Troy And Athena (Forbidden Love Series Book 15)

The next morning Athena received a call from Brandon early in the morning. He was on his way to the airport.

"I'm going to Florida for a month," he announced in a hurry, ready to disconnect the call.

"Weren't you supposed to go next month?" Asked Athena, remembering his angry threat of yesterday.

"Yeah but suddenly some important work has come up," he said impatiently. Athena could clearly hear a woman's voice in the background say,"What important work?"

So he was with a woman? She wondered who it could be. Brandon stayed away from women and hardly had any lady friends. His team members were also male so who was this new woman who was traveling with him? She was curious but she didn't want to sound like a jealous fiancée and disturb him. It could wait till he returned.

"Fine, have a safe trip, " she told him.

"Yeah, I'll call you later, bye," said Brandon, disconnecting the call abruptly before she could answer him. Athena found his behavior strange. It seemed as if he was trying to avoid her but was compelled to inform her about his change of plans at the last minute. She shrugged. It didn't matter much. They had stopped being best friends too long back and nowadays he rarely talked to her for long.

Athena showered and got ready for school. It was thankfully a Friday and she just looked forward to a weekend of relaxation. She had taken an appointment with the doctor for the evening and she would take granny to see him. She drove to school thankful to have her car back.  All because of Troy Wagner, of course. His name brought thoughts of his proposal to her mind. Driving those thoughts away, she reached her school to start another busy day. The whole day, she didn't get any time to think of his proposal.

The day ended finally and she drove home to see that granny's condition was no better than it was in the morning. She was at Laurence's house till Athena returned from work. "We'll go and see the doctor in the evening, okay?" She told her.

Granny nodded as she went to her room to rest. "I had lunch at Laurence's house, Athena. Don't make anything for me, " she told her.

"I'll just make a sandwich for myself then," said Athena, rushing to her room to first freshen up before entering the kitchen. Granny rested the whole afternoon. Athena made a quick sandwich for lunch and then went up to her room. They had an appointment at 7 o'clock in the evening so she just sat down to correct some of her student's works that they had submitted. She had rescheduled Lauren's class and Sandra dropped Lauren at her house at 4 o'clock.

It was only by 5 o'clock when Lauren left that Athena had some respite. She lay on her bed and closed her tired eyes. She would wake up granny in half an hour and then get ready to go to the clinic which was quite far away from their house but the doctor was very good and they continued to consult him despite the distance.

Would Troy accompany them or would he forget his promise? Athena shrugged. She had no idea about what Troy would do. Thankfully, he didn't have any classes with her today and he therefore he wouldn't ask her about his proposal. She was actually  confused about why he came up with such a strange proposal for her. With his looks and money, he could marry any woman he wanted, yet he asked her to marry him, knowing fully well that she was engaged to Brandon.

After 40 minutes, she went downstairs and checked granny's room. Granny was ready and waiting to go.  "Do you need anything, granny?" She asked. Granny shook her head.

"No, just get ready," she told her. Athena could sense that she was having difficulty with her breathing. She rushed up to her room and quickly got ready in five minutes. As she came down the staircase, the doorbell rang. Athena opened the door to find Troy standing at her doorstep with a smile on his face. Her heart skipped a beat! He remembered!

"Come in, granny's having a little difficulty with her breathing, so we're going a little earlier," she told him.

"Oh, are you ready?" Asked Troy with concern, coming inside and striding straight towards granny's room.

"Yes, let's go then? I'll just collect granny's medical file," said  Athena.

"C'mon granny, let's go," said Troy, helping her to her feet and leading her towards the main door. Athen collected her granny's medical file as well as the keys to the house and followed them. She saw him open the back seat of his car.

"I'll drive you to the hospital, " he offered. Athena nodded. She opened the passenger door and climbed into the car. Troy started his car and maneuvered the expensive vehicle expertly out of the driveway. She gave him the address and he drove them to it. He took all the pains to get granny as quickly treated as possible. After doing some tests, granny was admitted immediately. Athena failed to understand the need to admit granny. They had just gone there to the hospital for a checkup. Dr Mason Andrews came forward with the test reports to talk to her and Troy.

"Good evening, Ms. Harrison. Is this your husband?" Asked the middle-aged doctor with a smile. Before Athena could deny and introduce Troy, he did the honors himself.

"I'm Troy Wagner, Doctor Andrews. So how's granny?" He asked neither declining nor directly answering the doctor's question. The doctor smiled.

"Bridgette's suffering from a mild heart-attack which could have been complicated or even fatal since she already suffers from CHD but I'm glad that you've brought her right on time to get her treated. I've administered her the medication and she'll recover in the next forty-eight hours but given her condition, I could take the risk of releasing her. I'll keep her here under observation for the next forty-eight hours, " said the doctor.

Athena was immediately worried. The word heart attack caused a panic to start in her own heart. "Heart attack? Oh my God! Will granny be okay?" Gasped Athena, feeling dizzy. The other words didn't much register in her head which started reeling with stress. Granny was the only family she had. She couldn't let anything happen to granny. Why didn't she bring her sooner?

Troy caught her as she had a panic attack, holding her against him to save her from falling. "Look, Mr Wagner, it's no point staying here any longer. Bridgette will not gain consciousness tonight. Why don't you take your wife away? She needs to calm down. Bridgette is completely fine and out of danger now, " said the doctor.

Troy nodded. "Yes, I'll do that. Thank you, doctor.  If you need me, please note down my mobile number. Please give me a call anytime," he said, exchanging his phone number with the doctor. The doctor left and he turned to Athena.

"Come on, Athena. We'll go home, " he announced but Athena tried to stand straight without his support.

"No, I'm not going anywhere with you. I won't leave granny and go," she said, pushing him to run to granny's room. Troy noted her wide eyes, her sharp breathing. It was clear that she was still under an attack. She might not have heard a word the doctor said.

"Granny's fine and she's in the ICU, Athena. They won't let you sleep with her," he said, trying to coax her.

"I'll spend the night here at the lobby, " she argued, breathing hard. Troy lost his patience and just picked her up on his shoulder and walked towards the elevator with the whole hospital watching them with surprise.

"Troy, stop. Let me go. I need to be with granny, " she told him but he was more stubborn than a mule and simply carried her all the way down to the parking lot. He opened the passenger seat and deposited her there. Then he fixed her seat belt, his face hovering near hers. Athena's breath got stuck in her throat at his nearness. She could distinctly smell the tingling scent of his cologne from so near.

Troy's gaze however, never left her face as he buckled her seat belt. He minutely took in her wide eyes, staring back at him. He noticed her hitched breath and the warm color on her cheeks. He noticed her soft, parted, pink, kissable lips and he couldn't look away. The click sound of the seat belt locking made him realize what he was doing and he moved away to go to the driver's seat. Athena slowly released the breath that she was holding. Troy started his car and they drove off in silence. Athena closed her eyes and lay her head on the headrest of Troy's car. It would take then around thirty minutes to reach home and she could rest till then.

However after five minutes, she felt the car stop and Troy switch off the ignition. Opening her eyes, she found herself in an unknown underground parking lot. "Where are we?" She asked, straightening in her seat and looking around at the luxurious parking lot.

"Galaxie Towers, my home," he said softly.