There were about a million new questions on the tip of my tongue, all of them ready to spill out and attack Tony like an unyielding boxer. I was mostly ashamed to admit that I probably would've let them hit if it wasn't for luck saving him—and myself from ruining our new fragile bond—when there came a knock from the front door.

Both mine and Tony's heads pivoted to the sound, my brows first flying upwards in surprise, then creasing in confusion. Dan wouldn't be back from picking up Kyle yet, and even if he was, I knew I saw him grab his keys before he left...

"I..." I cleared my throat and looked at Tony for a moment before standing up. "I should get that. Stay here."

Giving no indication of hearing me, Tony leaned back into the couch, still holding the violin. I gave him one last glance before I then walked up to the front door, not peering through the peephole first to see who it was.

How I instantly wished I had done that.

The moment I opened the door, I wanted to slam it shut as my heart dropped into my gut and my breath stopped dead. Instead, I stared in dumb shock as my ex stood on the other side of the threshold. Mason.

"Hello, Mel," He said, casting a short glance up and down my body. The one he used to know so well. The one he used to cherish, to love, to kiss, to hold.

Six months weren't nearly long enough. The pain of looking at his face still hurt, yet I couldn't stop, even if I wanted to desperately turn away. "What... what are you doing here?" I didn't even remember choosing to speak. My heart lodged in my throat, and how I got words past that was a mystery.

Looking polished and pressed as always, Mason stood before me with his capturing green eyes and hazelnut brown hair. I remembered how I used to fawn over his good looks, how I used to bite my lip when he tied his tie in the morning, smirking at me through the mirror. Every time he said those three beautiful words, I had treasured them because no other man had ever said them to me. Nobody with that much passion and adoration.

If only I had known he had tossed the very same words to my former best friend.

"You called me." His voice pulled me out of my dark memories and back to the present. My brows furrowed at his reply, trying to place it. What?

"Did you forget already?" His perfect brow rose flatly as if I was missing out on something obvious. He then suddenly pulled his phone out, tapped on it a few times, then held it up as he turned up the volume. And then it all came back to me.

"Masoooon!" My voice sounded shrill and absolutely horrible through his voicemail, yet the sensation that filled my stomach as I remembered was what made me want to throw up. "Hey asshole, it's me, the ex-girlfriend you decided to cheat on by shoving your teenie weenie dick up my best friend. You think they would even actually call it cheating when it's that small? I mean... if I was a lesbian—"

"Turn that off," I forced out, meeting him with burning eyes. This wasn't happening.

"Oh, no, my favorite part is coming up. Listen," Mason drawled and provocatively turned the sound further up so loudly, I was sure the whole hallway could hear it.

"—and guess what; I'm gonna tell you a secret that I never told you. You ready? Here goes; I like getting fucked through the backdoor. Suck it!" My hysterical cackling through the phone only made the sting in my chest and the humiliation so much worse, but what was even worse was, Mason didn't stop it. No. He kept on letting it play, forcing me to relive the night of my life I wanted to forget more than anything. "Tonight I'm gonna find myself a big black cock and I'm gonna let it fuck me through the backdoor—"

"Turn it off!" I felt the humiliation toil and toss inside me. Mason finally obliged and turned it off, but he had already gotten exactly what he came here for; My embarrassment. Granted, he couldn't tell I was blushing, but we had been dating for six months back then; he never found my G-spot, but he sure as hell found my weak spot.

"No comments on that?" He asked as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and crossed his arms. I closed my eyes to silently count to ten, but when I opened them again he was still there, glaring at me.

"I was drunk," I answered, feeling my eyes sting. I was not gonna fucking cry in front of this asshole. "And that was weeks ago. Why do you show up with this shit now?" I had completely forgotten about it. With everything else that had happened that night and afterwards, the phone call had drowned out in my mind.

"I've been in Europe with my firm for almost a month," Mason replied as if that justified him showing up and treating my mistake like this. "Just got back last night and figured I should stop by my ex-girlfriend and see why she hasn't deleted my number yet."

The ego was dripping from his voice. Oh, he was enjoying this like hell. That message proved that everything he told me when we had parted ways six months ago was true. And he bathed in that fact.

"Fuck you, Mason," I regrettably felt the angered tears pool in my eyes. God, couldn't they just stay away for once so I didn't have to feel humiliated and pathetic? "You didn't have to show up here and do this. Is it some kind of sick pleasure to you? Seeing me miserable?" If that was the case, then that would have explained a whole fucking lot while we were dating.

"Don't flatter yourself," Mason responded with an eye-roll. "I came here to see why the hell you're leaving me messages six months after we broke up. You kicked me out, remember."

Damn fucking right I did. That's what people did when they discovered they'd been two-timing you with your best fucking friend. I lost two people I had cared about that day, yet both of them had made me believe it was my fault. Especially Mason.

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" I looked up at him with burning, tear-filled eyes. Fuck it, if he came here to have it out, he would get it. "You know full and well that call was a drunken mistake, yet you show up here just to get the satisfaction of seeing me break one more time? Fine. You want me to say it, I'll say it; you messed me up good." I didn't waver from his eyes as I took a step forward, letting the tears stream down my face. "You fucking sucked at fucking, but you were a champ at fucking with me. What I do to heal myself, I don't have to explain to you anymore. You gave up that right when you broke me. Goodbye, Mason."

When I went for slamming the door in his face, he pushed a foot between the door and the sill and prevented me from doing just that. He shoved it back open and stepped in. "I think the fuck not, Melody. We're not done talking."

"Get out!" God, I was this close to punching him... why didn't I? "I swear to Christ I'll call the cops!"

Mason opened his mouth to throw a retort back, but before he could, his eyes shifted to something behind me. His mouth closed and his face hardened. I knew why. I sensed him coming up behind me, the silent, brooding aura he always carried with him, tickling on my back. I had almost forgotten he was still here. Fuck.

Mason's eyes glared him up and down, and with a small twist of his lip, he grunted, "New boyfriend? I guess you didn't find your big black cock then."

Punch him. Murder him. Throw his body in the Hudson, my inner lioness roared.

She shut up the same second the warmth of Tony's body encircled me from behind.

"Is there a problem here?" His deep voice was like still water. I knew he had to have heard the whole conversation from the living room, which was why I was surprised with his seemingly calm demeanor. Or was he?

Silence before the storm.

Mason cocked a brow at him. His eyes took a scan of his scarred, rugged body, his filtered hair and ungroomed beard. The cockiness in his eyes proceeded to speak all by itself; What a loser she's found.

"No problem here," He replied, a small, arrogant smirk lifting on his lips. "Can't say the same for you, though. Did she tell you she called me a few weeks ago?"

"Just leave, Mason," I growled out, clenching my fists. "Now."

"I'm just making sure your new boyfriend knows his girlfriend is still hung up on her ex," He said and turned his eyes back to Tony. "That's me, by the way."

I was about to launch at him, but a hand slinked around my waist and pulled me back against a hard torso. I immediately froze up and cocked my head sideways to look at Tony. I'd never expected him to tell me to stand down from a fight, but for some reason he was. Why?

"She asked you to leave," Tony voiced, leveling Mason with a single look that left no room for argument. "Twice. You're gonna do as she says."

Mason let out a small scoff, then shook his head and looked at me. "You always had a thing for a dominant man. Good to see you haven't changed much."

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Bre—

Oh, fuck breathing.

Lunging forward in Tony's arms, he barely managed to yank me back as my claws ripped through the air, managing to scratch Mason across his cheek. He hissed and took a quick step back, just as Tony dragged me back and locked my wrists in his hands across my chest. While Mason cursed his mouth off and touched his bleeding face, I felt Tony lean down to my ear. "Don't give him the satisfaction."

It wasn't for his damn satisfaction. It was for mine.

"Go!" I screamed, still thrashing in Tony's grip. "Before I fucking castrate you and shove your little dick down your fucking throat, you piece of shit!"

"Fucking crazy," Mason glared at me, then turned his eyes to Tony. "See what you're dealing with? Fuck, she's your problem now, man. Put a leash on her, she'll love that."

"YOU—"

Tony wheeled me around and then kicked the door shut when Mason walked out. Screaming and thrashing, I yelled at him to let me go so I could go murder Mason's ass and shove my foot one mile up into it.

"Melody!" Tony yelled over all my screaming and pinned me against the wall. The boom of his voice shocked me to my core. "Calm. Down."

"Why?" I cried, feeling the tears rolling from my eyes. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I just wanted to... I just wanted to scream and punch and kick and... and...

"Melody," His voice lowered and came closer to my face when I began sobbing. I was losing against myself. He squared me with his eyes and made me solid up in his grip. "Rage is a weapon; Don't use it on unworthy opponents."

I stopped struggling. Mutely, I looked up at him while his words cemented.

He was right. Mason had come here today looking for a fight and I gave it to him. Tony saved me from doing what I knew I would've ended up doing; Getting into a fight with a man who knew all my weak points. A man who got a rise out of putting pressure on them. Tony had realized that within the five minutes he'd spent standing behind me—ten if you counted the minutes he spent listening in on our conversation. He just knew; He knew this was never about getting my revenge or hurting him back.

It was much deeper.

He slowly let go of my wrists. Feeling him cup my face and jerk it up to look at him, I met his eyes. Through wet lashes, I found him watching me closely. "Calm?"

Dragging my bottom lip between my teeth, I slowly nodded. I was calm again, but God. Why did it all have to be like this? So... complicated.

Tony gave a curt nod, then finally drew back and allowed me to go free. For now.

Looking silently back up at him, I knew he was waiting for me to do something. Say something. Breathe.

"I..." There were too many things I wanted to say. Too many questions. Too many... words. Swirling around in my head, breaking apart, then rephrasing, they all blurred together. And what came out? "I... I think your clothes is dry."

He watched me for another moment, then gave me a slow nod.

"You can..." I tried to clear my throat a little. It didn't help. My voice still sounded raspy when I spoke again. "You can borrow our shower and bath supplies if you want to... I-I don't know, shave or something..." I looked away and down at the floor.

"I should go." His guarded voice was back. Shields were up. Square one again.

I nodded woodenly. "Okay."

I begun walking back into the kitchen to... I don't know. To get away from the situation. I was by the doorframe when I stopped up at the sound of his voice.

"Melody?"

"Mm?" I looked over my shoulder. Not at him. Just somewhere on the wall.

I sensed him. Saw him shift in my peripheral vision, squaring his shoulders. "Can I come back for the violin?"

Come back. For the violin.

Of course. He wouldn't bring it to the street. He hated it, but it wouldn't be safe there. Others could take it and abuse it for him. He didn't want that. It was safer here. With me.

"Yes." I therefore replied, turning my gaze away again.

If I had eyes at the back of my head, I was sure I would've seen him nod, but because I didn't, I went into the kitchen and continued the dishes I never got to finish.

Ten minutes later, I heard the front door quietly go, then shut even quieter. No goodbyes. It wasn't needed. Not when he would come back.

For the violin.

• • •

Strings attached.