Chapter 25
Niko woke to an alarm sounding. His eyes opened, and he immediately realized that it wasn’t his alarm. He rolled over and saw that Tiana was still sound asleep. He reached across her and picked up her phone, silencing it.
The night before, she’d fallen asleep as soon as they got in the SUV.
She’d barely woken up when they dropped off Pops at Golden Years.
He’d helped him inside and checked him back in.
She was sound asleep when they got back to the Airbnb, so Niko carried her inside.
She’d been half-awake, half-asleep when he helped her change into a t-shirt, then she climbed into bed and was out like a light.
As happy as he was that she was resting, he’d had so much he wanted to tell her about what he’d found out after his brother’s wedding ceremony when Yaya did some digging into Dickie, as Yaya knew him, and his issues.
More importantly, who was causing those issues?
But she was out for the count, just as she was now.
“Tiana,” Niko said her name softly, not wanting to startle her. When she didn’t budge, he placed his hand on her shoulder and said her name a little louder. “Tiana.”
Her eyes fluttered open at the same time he realized that her skin was warm to the touch. He moved his hand from her shoulder to her forehead. She was burning up.
“What time is it?” she asked as she attempted to keep her lids open.
“It’s five forty.”
“Five forty.” She started to sit up but immediately lay back down. “I have to go. I have a class.”
“You have a fever. You can’t teach.” He was already getting out of bed.
“I have to. I can’t miss a class,” she argued, her eyes still closed, lying on her back.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“What?” Her face scrunched as she struggled to open one eye.
He leaned down beside her and brushed her hair back. Her heavy lids cracked a slice. His thumb grazed her jaw as he cupped her cheek, her face was radiating heat. “I’ll take care of it,” he assured her.
Niko could see that she wanted to fight him, but thankfully, she didn’t. She nodded. “Okay. I’ll message you all the info for the studio.”
He handed her the phone, and she began to type.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to get you some water and something for your fever.”
On the way down the hall, he was trying to figure out what his plan would be.
He knew he had a very short time to handle the situation.
He pulled up the schedule and saw that there were four morning classes.
He had no problem teaching them but wished he had other options because he didn’t want to leave Tiana.
In the kitchen he got her water and medicine and brought it into the room. She was still holding her phone, but her eyes were closed and her mouth was open.
"Tiana, here you go, take these.”
Her eyes opened, and he handed her the medication, then placed the straw in her mouth so she could take the pills.
“Drink a little more,” he instructed, not wanting her to get dehydrated.
Once she had drunk down enough that he felt she would be okay, he placed the glass on the nightstand. He went into the bathroom and wet a cloth, then went and placed it on her forehead. He just wanted to get her temperature down a few degrees.
After that was done, he pulled out his phone and messaged Frankie, letting her know that Tiana was running a high fever, and asked if Liam could stop by to check on her when he got a chance.
He also told his sister he was going to cover her classes that morning, but if Liam had time to stop by, he could grab the keys from him, or AJ and Poppy also had a set.
Niko got ready in less than five minutes.
Before he left, he freshened the cloth with cool water and put it on her forehead again.
He sat with her till the very last minute and then was out the door.
When he got to the studio, a few students were waiting in their cars and followed behind him as he opened the door.
Thankfully, Niko had paid attention the morning he’d come in with Tiana, and most of the tasks were fairly intuitive. She’d messaged him the security code and password for the computer. As he was preparing his introduction for the class, he heard his sister’s voice. “The cavalry has arrived.”
He lifted his head and saw Frankie, Zion, Karina, and actress Shayne Fox.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“We were already booked to take the class,” Frankie explained.
“We’re both certified, and we can cover the classes if you want to go home.” Zion motioned between himself and Shayne.
“You are?”
“I got certified after I started practicing for my sciatica,” Zion explained.
Shayne raised her hand. “I’m playing a yoga teacher for my next role, and I’d love to have some real world experience. I was going to ask Tiana today if she would let me co-teach like you’ve been doing, so this is perfect timing.”
“Are you sure? There are four classes this morning, and—”
“Three tonight, four tomorrow, two tomorrow evening, three morning classes on Friday, two Friday evening, and four Saturday morning classes,” Shayne rattled off.
“And you know the formats?”
Both Zion and Shayne looked at one another and then back to Niko. “Yes.”
Frankie lifted her hand. “I can handle the admin, and Liam’s gonna stop by to check on Tiana in about an hour on his way to the office. Go home. Go, go, go and be with her.”
“You’re starting to sound like her,” Niko pointed out.
“What? Who?”
“Yaya,” Niko said at the same time as Zion, Frankie’s best friend.
“What? How?”
“Go, go, go,” Niko and Zion chorused.
Frankie shrugged with a smile. While Zion and Shayne looked over the music system and split up the classes between themselves, Niko quickly showed Frankie the computer and security system, then gave her the keys.
Niko always loved his sister, but he could honestly say he’d never loved her quite as much as he had in that moment. Before he left, he kissed her on the head. “Best sister ever.”
She smiled up at him. “I’ve been saying it for years.”
As he headed out and got into the SUV, he saw both Zion and Shayne in the front of the room, he assumed they were making the announcement that Tiana was ill and they would be covering her classes, and he felt a warmth swell up inside of him.
This was another one of those connection moments that he’d been missing for so long. Community. Family.
He got home less than fifteen minutes after he left and rushed back to the room. Tiana was still sound asleep, but her phone alarm was going off again right beside her face on the nightstand. He grabbed it and turned it off.
He decided to keep the phone with him since he had no clue what other alarms she had set. The cloth she’d left on her forehead was now warm to the touch. He went back into the bathroom to wet it down again.
As he did, he looked down at Tiana, her cheeks pink, skin flushed with fever, and he couldn’t help but think about that little girl who hadn’t had anyone.
Or the teenager who had to deal with so much on her own.
No one to guide her. Or the adult trying to navigate this world alone, or worse, the ten years she’d been married to that jackass Brock.
There was no way that Brock had taken care of Tiana. Although, his family seemed nice enough. And he was so happy that she had Pops, which reminded him, he should call Pops and let him know.
He placed the cloth on Tiana’s forehead and couldn’t help himself from leaning down and kissing her head. On the way out of the room, he was surprised when he saw that Tiana was getting a call from Golden Years. Talk about perfect timing.
“Hello,” he answered, thinking it would be Pops or Cindy, who worked at the front desk.
“Hello, I was calling for Tiana Matthews,” a man’s voice sounded.
“She’s not feeling well. This is Niko Costas. Is everything okay with Mr. Matthews, with Pops?”
“Oh, okay, hi Mr. Costas, yes, I’ve heard a lot about you. This is Dr. Best and the reason I’m calling is, I’m sure you’re aware, the surgery is scheduled in December.”
No. No, he was not.
“There’s been a change in the surgeon’s schedule.
She will no longer be in Sacramento on those dates due to a private family situation.
She is, however, going to be in Silver Cove for the next two weeks.
She’s going to be at Pine Ridge for the next week, and I can book an ER tomorrow.
I know the space will get taken, so if you could just have her call me at her earliest convenience, the sooner the better. ”
“Let me have the phone!”
Niko could hear Pops in the background.
“Mr. Matthews would like to—”
“Niko!” Pops barked.
“Hi, Pops.”
“What’s goin’ on with Tiny?”
Niko loved the nickname Tiny for Tiana. He could only imagine a tiny little Tiana in Pops liquor store the day after she ‘robbed’ it with her crayon drawings of candy. It must have broken Pops’ heart.
“She woke up with a fever, I’m here with her. Zion and Shayne are covering her classes, and Liam is coming over to check on her in the next hour. I’m staying with her.”
“Good, you do that, and let her be. If my insurance doesn’t cover this, then I don’t need the dang surgery. I’m not gonna put Tiny in the hole for that! If it’s my time, it’s my time.”
Oh, so that’s what this was about. It was about payment. For once, this was something Niko could fucking do something about. And Niko did not think Tiana would appreciate Pops talking like that, saying things like, “If it’s my time, it’s my time.”
“Okay, Pops. I won’t wake her up, I promise. Can I speak to Dr. Best again?”
“Yes.” Dr. Best spoke when he was back on the line.
“Is this just a financial issue or is anything else? Is everyone else on board?”
“Yes. We are all in agreement that this is the way forward.”
“Whatever financial arrangements need to be made, I will be taking full responsibility for them.”
“Okay.”
Dr. Best went over who would call him back and then gave him a rough idea of what he could expect the next day. As soon as he got off the phone, Niko went back into the room and woke Tiana up.
“Tiana, hey.”
One lid opened, while the other remained glued shut.
“The surgery, for Pops, he’s having it tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She nodded and closed her singular opened lid.
“Did you hear me?” he asked, wanting her not just to hear but to comprehend.
He felt the cloth on her forehead, it was already warm. He ran it under the cold water of the bathroom sink, then wrung it out. When he came back, he gently said her name again as he pressed the cold cloth to her head. “Tiana.”
Once again, her eyes fluttered open.
“Pops’ surgery was moved up to tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.” Her heavy lids were closing before she even got the full word out.
He wiped down her cheeks and neck. “Do you know what’s happening tomorrow?”
She nodded.
“What?” he prodded gently.
“Surgery,” she slurred.
“Who is having surgery?”
“Pops.”
Niko exhaled. That was the best he was going to be able to do.
He sat beside her, freshening her cloth every five minutes or so until Liam arrived.
His brother-in-law asked what her symptoms had been.
Niko explained that when they got in the SUV the night before, Tiana said she was exhausted and her body ached, and she felt like she had been hit by a truck.
And he explained when they woke up this morning, she was burning up.
Before even walking back and examining her, Liam diagnosed that he was ninety percent sure she had the “Super Flu,” which apparently was going around.
He said that it came on suddenly and could cause delirium, the onset of high fever, intense body aches, extreme fatigue, and confusion.
Once he was done checking her over, he felt strongly that was the case.
He gave him flu medication to administer with instructions to keep her as hydrated as possible, to monitor specific markers that would indicate she needed to go to the emergency room and to call him immediately.
“Thanks, man. I appreciate this.” Niko pulled Liam into a hug and squeezed him tightly.
When Niko released him from his Hulk-like hug, Liam stepped back and stared down at Niko and didn’t say anything.
His expression was pensive. A pensive Liam was one with something to say.
Liam rarely gave his opinion or talked at all, but something told Niko he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to hear what he was about to tell him.
“What?” Niko finally asked.
“Didn’t you say this wasn’t real? That night you came over, didn’t you say this was only because of your exes being in town?”
“It’s real,” Niko admitted. “To me, it’s real.”
Liam grinned, as if amused by his situation. “Call me if her fever goes over 103 and you can’t get it down.”
“I will. Thanks.”
He closed the door, and as he headed back to the room, he wondered if it was real to Tiana or if this was still just an “arrangement,” as she’d put it.
It was obviously not a conversation he’d be having with her today, or tomorrow, or the next day for that matter.
But when she was healthy again, they needed to sit down and talk because Niko wanted more than wanted more than pretend.
Today scared him.
What if he hadn’t been in her life and she’d been in that fucking shack by herself? Who would have found her? Who was her emergency contact? Pops? He was amazing, but he was in his eighties, and he lived in an assisted living facility himself.
Niko wanted to be her emergency contact, legally, forever. This was real for him now. Who was he kidding, it had been real for him from the start.