Fractured

Chapter 5 - Unexpected Reaction

Our routine continued much the same for the first couple of weeks. Eventually Axel was able to talk me into going over to meet the rest of his friends. Apparently Marc wanted to spend more than 5 minutes with me and the others were curious about 'the mysterious girl that had both Axel and Marc all worked up'.

I found myself leaning against the back of the couch in the three bedroom apartment at the Sergeant Jasper, talking to Axel about some of the Wildlife Warrior work I had done overseas when the unmistakable smell of vodka hit my nose. We had been so lost in conversation that neither of us had heard Raven enter the apartment.

"Who's the bird?" Raven grunted at Axel while giving me the once over. He scrunched his eyebrows together and muttered in Russian under his breath. I didn't quite catch what he said, but it sounded like he was scrutinizing my outfit.

"Raven, this is Andy," Axel said coolly, hitting Raven with an ice-cold stare. "My new intern at the aquarium and Dr Roberts niece. I told you about her a few weeks ago, when she started at the aquarium."

Raven thought on this information for a moment before turning to me, commenting, "your parents named you Andy? Isn't that a man's name?" with a hint of disgust in his tone.

I sighed inwardly at his comment. I knew he meant nothing by it, but this wasn't even close to the first time someone had asked me that. Uncle's words came into my thoughts at that moment. He wanted me to get close to them. He wanted me to trust them, and hoped that in doing so, they would trust me too. He wanted me to be more than Andy the intern. I was to become Andy, the best friend and, hopefully, the saviour.

I stopped staring at the knees of Raven's pants, lifting my eyes to meet his. He was expecting a response to what I had thought was a rhetorical question. I hope they are ready to hear this, I thought. Was I ready to share it?

"Actually", I started, getting his full attention, "I have no idea the name my mother gave me. No one does. The man that had considered himself my father only ever called me kid, punk, or if he was in a particularly bad mood, little bitch. Andy is the nickname I got when Dr Roberts team adopted me. Given I didn't know my own name, and refused to talk at all, they called me Alexandria, as that is where they found me."

I extended my hand in greeting, ready to comply with yet another societal expectation that I picked up in etiquette training. While a handshake was considered polite when meeting a new person, it was considered rude for a man to offer his hand to a woman to initiate the handshake. "Pleased to meet you" I added, with a forced smile.

Raven seemed satisfied at the information I had just shared with him. His smile broadened as he stepped forward and took my hand. For a second I thought all was well and we had gotten off to a great start! It had been easier than I expected to share that information with them.

In the next moment, everything changed. Raven had hoisted me over his shoulder, misjudging my weight, with my thighs landing on his shoulder, instead of my hips. It only took a second for him to adjust his grip and avoid dropping me. My position was a small advantage as I panicked and went into fight mode; my instincts took over.

Her eyes, Axel thought to himself, they'd changed from their usual happy grey-blue to a fierce, storm cloud grey. It only took a moment more for him to recover enough from the shock to reprimand Raven for this behaviour.

I had shifted into a position to be able to free myself from Raven's grip when I heard Axel clear his throat and yell at Raven. "Raven!" he bellowed. "You can't jus..."

That was all the distraction I had needed. I slammed my elbow down into Raven's back, around where I thought his kidney should be. I needed to have my feet back on the ground now and didn't have time to talk my way off this handsome Russian's shoulder. Not that I would have admitted it to anyone that asked, but I was terrified.