Unconditional

Chapter Three

        "I didn't mean to." I hated how weak my voice sounded. "I forgot to mention I wake up violently and I couldn't remember where I was. I'm sorry."

        I heard Axel get up and approach but kept my eyes on the carpet, not wanting to look at his face. Gently, his hand came forward and tilted my chin up, forcing my eyes to meet his. He didn't look upset, his face was so unreadable to me that I could feel myself growing nervous for his reaction. The tension in the air was tangible. I barely noticed that Brandon was no longer in the room.

        "Corey was right, you and Raven are quite alike in some ways."

        "What do you mean?" My brows furrowed together in confusion and I searched Axel's eyes for any seed of emotion.

        "If you ever have to wake Raven up don't be within arms length." As I grasped what Axel was telling me it suddenly made Raven's reaction when I hit him make much more sense. He knew how to help me because he understood to an extent what I was feeling.

        "Oh."

        "Next time, don't cry. Any time someone lands a good hit on Raven I'm impressed. If he has a bruise tomorrow I might even congratulate you." Axel's face had relaxed into a smile and almost immediately I let out a sigh of relief.

        "Well he wasn't exactly expecting it so I don't think it counts."

        "Even better." Axel finally dropped his hand and turned on his heels, walking towards the door. "If Marc looks good you can go back to sleep or do whatever you please for awhile."

        I trailed after Axel out of Marc's room back into the living space. "I'm going to go home and shower I think."

        "Do you have any towels in your apartment?" I paused. I hadn't even thought of that. All I wanted was to get out of my clothes. "Thought so, you can go grab your stuff and shower here. I assume you'll be staying the night anyways."

        "I-uh-yes, I want to make sure Marc stays stable for at least another twenty hours if you don't mind. And a shower sounds warm." I said to Axel as he sat down at the table Marc had been lying on hours earlier. Corey was at the other end typing furiously onto his laptop.

        "Do you mean nice? Or good? Not warm." Corey glanced up at me, a lopsided smile on his face.

        "Warm is nice, I like warm." I frowned at Corey, tilting my head slightly. I didn't understand what he meant.

        "Don't worry about it, Kotyonok." Raven came up behind Corey and ruffled his hair. "It's same."

        "No it's not." Axel remarked. "Warm refers to temperature, nice or good are used to describe pleasant things."

        "I thought hot was for temperature." I exchanged a 'what the heck are they saying' look with Raven, who I figured would sympathize with me the most.

        "Warm is temperatures between hot and cool." Corey patiently explained and I nodded. That made more sense. Maybe my English wasn't as good as I thought it was. "What does Kotyonok mean?"

        Corey was looking at me when he asked but the question was for Raven.

        "Kitten." Raven grinned shamelessly. "but maybe I should call her Lion instead after what she did to me in the bedroom."

        My cheeks flamed and I let out a choking noise. Corey and Brandon roared in laughter as I sputtered and even Axel let out a low, very sexy chuckle. I couldn't help but toss my own sexual comment to even the playing field. It was the only way to get myself on even footing with the Russian.