Violinist (CENTURIES series: Book #4)

16

• We reach a low in this one, and it won't be the only one in this book. •

Fire and ice. Light and dark. Yin and Yang.

That was the split in the room as the two men in my life looked at each other; Dan shocked, but firm; Tony stealthy, but deep.

I didn't realize I had stopped breathing for minutes until my lungs suddenly clenched to action and started working again. In, out. Inhale, exhale. The silence in the room made each breath sound so much louder.

Why had he walked out? It wasn't like Tony. Why was he defying his own rules? He stayed in solitude. He walked alone. I had fought my way through his barrier and I had barely found a thread to hold on to, and yet here he was, inviting Dan into his space freely. Why?

To everyone's surprise, Kyle was the first to break the deafening silence.

"So..." He started, clearing his throat. "I guess you're... uh, Tony?"

My eyes jerked up to Tony, simply because I couldn't fathom what he would reply. I didn't have the imagination. I couldn't picture him cracking a smile and sticking his hand out, giving him a firm handshake and a solid reply like; 'yeah, man. Nice to meet you.' He was too stoic for that. Too silent.

And that was exactly what he replied with. A silent nod, whereafter his eyes shifted back to Dan. He sensed him as the alpha in the room. The one whose approval he needed.

Oh, but he didn't, did he? Tony knew he was on his territory, but he wasn't afraid of what the other alpha would say. He wasn't here to claim anything. He wasn't even here to eat their food. Why was he here?

"You're the one Melody's been telling us about," Kyle continued, trying to address the elephant in the room. He did his best, but I didn't miss his awkward shift and subtle glance at Dan who remained silent and kept staring at Tony.

The two males were at a standoff.

"Dan," I implored him with a look and begged him not to open his big mouth. Stand down. I knew him. If there was something he wanted to say, he'd say it. He had expressed his opinion of Tony to me, and I knew if given the chance, he'd let Tony know how he felt about all of this as well. Dan was a verbal warrior. Tony was a physical. He didn't like what he did to me, and if he got the chance, he would shoot that out there.

Dan finally shifted and broke eye contact first. His eyes flickered to me and I saw his jaw tighten. "So you're the homeless guy?" He blatantly asked, but his eyes laid accusingly on me. Why did I feel like a teen who had brought home a criminal to the house?

My eyes tasered Dan, my fists balled up, but of course Dan didn't let it faze him. He turned his eyes to Tony again and kept glaring at him with an unfiltered resentment. I didn't know why he was acting like this. And maybe I did. But in any case, it wasn't his place to cast his opinion.

Tony, who with only a small twitch of a muscle in his hand, remained impassive to Dan's unwelcoming stare. He didn't move, but he also didn't stand down. No one was moving, yet things were still spinning out of hand.

"Maybe we should..." I started, but I had no idea what the fuck to actually do. I stared up at Tony, then flailed back to Dan who seemed as adamant on keeping up the stonewall as he did. I started feeling tremors of bad omens toiling in my stomach. This was going all wrong.

"Are you hungry?" Kyle tried, my helping wingman. He looked at Tony with a polite face while discreetly placing a hand on Dan's side to make him unclench. It didn't work. "We've bought enough for you to join us," He therefore continued. "You want to stay for brunch?"