When students began to trickle in, Tiana and the butterflies in her stomach welcomed them with smiles. Every time the bell sounded and the door opened, her body tensed, expecting it to be Brock walking in. She still had no clue what his endgame was.
Was it just to mess with her? Why was he in this town? He was planning something, she was sure of it.
As much as her independent self hated to admit it, she was happy to be staying with Niko. Even if lines were blurred last night.
She was visiting with Emma Dorsey five minutes before class was scheduled to begin when she heard Brock’s voice behindher. He was speaking to Gianna, telling her where they would be putting their mats. Hearing the tone of his voice made her body tense. She forgot how on edge he made her feel all the time. For years she’d walked on emotional eggshells without being aware of it.
A large palm landed on her lower back, and Niko’s lips grazed the outer cusp of her ear. “Are you good?”
She glanced up at him and nodded.
One look in his eye, one touch of his hand, his support, his presence did the exact opposite of Brock. It grounded her. It gave her an anchor, a place of security and safety.
Yeah, this ‘relationship’ had definitely gone too far.
Niko had been in more locker rooms than yoga studios, but as he moved up the rows of students in the serene, heated space, he noticed the similarities. The pre-class posturing, the little competitive twitches and gestures as everyone claimed their preferred mat spots, and the way everyone stole glances at the newcomers to assess and strategize, even if the objective here was enlightenment and not a win-loss record.
“Good morning! I’m Tiana, and I’m so happy to see everyone here,” she said. Her voice was warm but carried, easily filling the space without pretense. “Today is all about tuning into your own body and letting go of anything that’s not serving you.”
Niko watched as a ripple of relaxation washed through the group.
Despite the asshole reason he was there, he loved watching Tiana in her element, her presence in the space was magnetic, even electrifying, more than he could have predicted. When she looked over the group of students, she didn’t just scan, shesaweveryone: the nervous woman fidgeting with her water bottle, the older man breathing measuredly, the two moms who'd walked in together but immediately rolled their mats apart so they could focus.
“Before we begin, I want to introduce someone special.” Tiana looked right at him, and Niko felt a jolt move through his chest.Hmm, unexpected. “You are all in for a very special treat. We’re lucky to have a guest co-instructor today. Niko Costas, everyone.”
There was a burst of applause and some whooping and whistling. He lifted his hand in a wave and moved up front with Tiana, and they exchanged a subtle glance. She gave him the tiniest, crooked smile, grateful, embarrassed, and trusting.
He scanned the faces in the studio, and his eyes immediately snagged on Bartlett. The ex was front row, dead center, clad in a form-fitted Lululemon tee that made it look like his muscled arms were imported directly from a bad pharmaceutical ad. Next to him, G stretched like a bored housecat, her hair perfect, her nails tapping on her phone as subtle as a foghorn.
The moment the class began, Niko felt the polarity in the room shift. Bartlett was watching Tiana with a look Niko recognized instantly, the hungry, possessive gaze of a man who thought he still owned someone. Had probably never considered that he didn’t. Niko’s jaw clenched, and he forced his focus to the practice, but he kept Bartlett at the edge of his vision.
They moved the class through sun salutations, then deeper into balance poses and slow vinyasa. Tiana’s cues were gentle and precise, never showy. Niko called out modifications, and Tiana moved through the room and adjusted a student’s hip here and a shoulder blade there. He knew his own body so well that he forgot sometimes what it was like to be tentative, but he could see the trust the students had in Tiana. When she stopped by a student’s mat, they relaxed. Bartlett, on the other hand, was adifferent story. Every time Tiana neared him, he stiffened subtly, like a predator noting the approach of his prey.
As they’d preplanned, at the halfway point, Niko and Tiana switched places, and Niko took the lead. He brought the class into a long warrior sequence, calling out breath cues and alignment. He saw Brock’s eyes flick to him, glaring at him, challenging him as if Niko was supposed to do something about it. The man radiated a kind of entitlement that Niko found both ridiculous and infuriating, like he’d shown up just to remind Tiana of his existence, to force his presence into her new life. To be there now that he no longer had a signature at the bottom of a legal contract.
Niko countered his energy with the only tactic he could, ignore Bartlett and focus on Tiana. Every time he gave the class a rest in child’s pose, he looked over at her and made sure she was okay and that she wasn’t getting rattled by her ex’s looming attention. She wasn’t, at least not on the surface. She was the essence of composure, but he could tell from the way her hands twitched against her thighs after each pose, or the tight smile she flashed at every student, that she was feeling the pressure.
Still, she crushed it. When she took the class through a final round of spinal twists and invited everyone to settle into savasana, the relief in the room was palpable. Even Bartlett let out a deep sigh, as if he’d finally tired himself out.
Niko looked at Tiana, saw her take a breath, and watched the way her shoulders loosened just a notch. He moved to the back of the room and watched her lead the closing meditation, her voice low and calm, guiding everyone back into their bodies.
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 chattingwith 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.
