Chapter 17 #3
When class ended, students began the ritual of rolling up mats, and unlike other yoga sessions he’d been to, this did not end with polite smiles and quiet voices.
This room did not use inside voices, everyone talked over one another, and the space was loud.
After Tiana thanked everyone, she started chatting with a gray-haired woman who came up to ask about a wrist stretch.
Niko moved toward the other end of the studio to reset blocks and straps, but he never took his eyes off Bartlett, who was making a show of slow-walking to the exit and then speaking to three women who were apparently big football fans.
G, for her part, had fallen into a conversation with a young woman who recognized her as an influencer, but Niko could tell she was listening hard to every word Bartlett said.
Niko made his way over to them when he saw that Brock was loitering by the exit.
“So nice to have you both in class this morning.” Niko sported the version of a Zen smile that he knew would drive Bartlett batshit.
G smiled. “I can’t believe I forgot you were a yogi.”
Bartlett did not appear as amused by that fact as his ex was. It didn’t surprise Niko that G hadn’t remembered his interest. She rarely paid attention to anything he had going on. Not in an intentionally rude way, just in a very self-involved way.
“Hope to see you both in another class soon,” Niko said with enough finality to signal it was time to go.
Bartlett’s jaw ticked at the inference that Niko co-teaching would become a regular occurrence and his not-so-subtle invitation to leave the fucking studio.
His invitation to exit was supported when students for the next class were arriving and taking their places.
Niko clocked Bartlett waiting for Tiana, who was still in the back by the cubbies.
When she said goodbye to the woman from the last class, two newcomers approached her, and Niko saw that Bartlett realized any opportunity to speak with her or harass her was gone.
Without saying a word or sparing Niko another glance, he pulled the door open hastily, nearly knocking G in the head with it. If he had, Bartlett would have been flattened. She juked to the side to avoid the door.
“Pay attention to your surroundings,” Bartlett snapped as G walked out in front of him looking, for lack of a better term, sheepish.
If someone would have told Niko that G would have ever allowed a man to speak to her in that tone, to treat her that way, he would have told them they were smoking crack. But she was. Niko didn’t like it. He wondered what would happen if Tiana did speak to her and warn her. Would she listen?
The next class started, and Niko stayed on.
They ended up teaching all four classes together, and Niko couldn’t remember the last time he’d had that much fun.
Watching Tiana teach, seeing how much her students loved her, and seeing how much she loved her students back.
Plus it was fun seeing people he hadn’t in a while, including family.
Yaya came in for Wise Warrior Flow and was surprised to find her grandson co-teaching.
He loved seeing her face light up. And she wasn’t the only family member he’d gotten to surprise.
Frankie and his soon to be sister-in-law Poppy had taken hip-hop yoga.
That was what Niko missed after being disconnected for so long.
He’d gone from living in a one-bedroom caregiver’s cottage with his twin brother, little sister, and mom on the Sterling’s property, where he was raised with Liam and Tristan, who were like his brothers, to living alone in Southern California, having no family at all, and traveling nine months out of the year.
He spent his entire adult life never feeling like he had any roots.
He wanted to randomly run into family and neighbors. Like at the trivia night, he was able to recruit Deacon. He wanted roots.
When the final morning classes ended and the last student left, Tiana sighed as she closed the door.
“Thank you for, you know…” She hesitated, then shrugged in a way that said she hated needing help but was determined to be gracious about it. “Saving me from an internal nervous breakdown.”
Niko grinned. “Anytime you need a buffer from the evil assholes, I am your man.”
A smile spread across her face. “Is that what we’re calling Brock and Gianna?”
“Oh no, that’s just Bartlett. G is a lot of things, but evil or an asshole she is not.”
Tiana’s phone alarm sounded, and she jumped as if it surprised her. When she checked it, her eyes widened. “Shit, I have to go.” She grabbed her bag, and after she quickly set the alarm, they headed out.
“Thanks again.” She started walking away from the SUV.
“Where are you going?” Niko asked.
“Golden Years,” she said over her shoulder, not breaking her stride.
“Okay, I’ll take you.” He pressed the fob.
“No, I’m good. I want to walk.”
Niko jogged to catch up with her, but she stopped and turned towards him, holding up her hand. “No! I don’t want you to…I don’t need you to go.”
“Sorry.” He stepped back and held his hands up. It was clear she did not want company, maybe even specifically his company. “I was just…”
“I just… I can go to Golden Years alone, I don’t need a babysitter or a bodyguard. I just want to go visit Pops, okay, I need space.”
“Right. Sorry.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled, and it looked to Niko like she regretted snapping at him.
“No, it’s…I’m sorry.” Her phone beeped again. “Thank you again. For everything. I have to go.”
As he watched her walk away, he had no idea what her change of behavior was about.
He’d clearly triggered her or crossed a line.
He realized he knew from the moment he turned around on the dance floor and she told him about her ex coming to town that he would do anything to protect her from Bartlett, hell, he’d do anything to protect her from the world.
What he hadn’t expected was that he might someday need to protect her from himself.