Blaine stared at Kurt for a long time that night, unable to notice the hours passing and how weary he was feeling as he protectively watched out for Kurt, who was snoozing against his chest. He seemed to be dreaming peacefully, his lashes fluttering and his breathing slow. At least, he was sleeping as peacefully as he could after being shaken up in the mall. His lip would heal fine, which Blaine was relieved of, but it was still bruised and swollen. Touching Kurts precious mouth, Blaine quickly pulled away when Kurt made a soft sound, obviously because he was still sore and raw.

He couldnt go on like this anymore, hiding from the man who used to be his everything, and fearing his next attack because he was so enraged that Blaine had broken so many of his rules. Even though Blaine was out of his control, Karofsky still had so much power over him. Karofsky would know his greatest weakness as long as he was with Kurt, and he would stop at nothing to hurt Kurt. Blaine had promised himself long ago to never let Karofsky get to Kurt, so he had to do something before it was too late. Taking a deep breath, he faced what was inevitable and swung his legs off the bed.

He didnt know how painful this would be, if Karofsky would beat him until he couldnt stand up, or if he would do something worse to him, but he didnt want to think about that. He just tightened his jaw and braced himself for the violence that was going to come. He only knew one thing for sure about going to Karofsky, and it was that he wasnt loved with him. He never had been, as much as hed tried to deny that all along. In fact, after Karofsky had taken him away from his friends, stripped him of his own dignity, and turned him into someone so blubbery and needy, he was sure that he hated him.

He stumbled on his walk up the stairs, and he almost fell onto his ass. The shock of his feet slipping from under him was only an injury to his insult, making him grunt and pick himself back up. The house above the basement was silent except for the low hum of the heater, and as Blaine passed in front of it, his skin heated up. It felt good on his cool skin, and he wondered when he would feel warm again as he pushed through the front door and stepped onto the walkway. Piles of slush and ice were gathered around the edges of the sidewalk, slowly turning brown as the dirt was mixed in.

On his way over to his car, he pulled his phone from his pocket, staring at the front of it for several seconds. He didnt open it until he got into his car, and he went through his contacts. There werent many of them, so it didnt take him long to find the K names. Above Kurts name, there should have been a space for Karofskys name, but hed deleted his number long ago. He still had it stuck in his head after all of these months, though, and he rolled his eyes at how much hed used it before.

He remembered his and Karofskys long conversations at night, when hed tell Karofsky all of his secrets and assume that they were safe. Hed always wanted to mumble to Karofsky that he wanted him to stop beating him and hitting him for everything he did wrong, that hed be good for Karofsky, as long as he would stop threatening him. He never got up the courage, though. Not that it mattered. Karofsky was usually drunk during their conversations, and whenever Blaine would bring them up later in hope that they could talk about them again, Karofsky would make fun of his secrets.

Pulling himself out of his past before he broke down, he started the car and turned out of the driveway. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and held his phone up to his ear with his other, his hand squeezing it so tightly that he heard plastic cracking. It was almost three in the morning, so he didnt expect Karofsky to answer, but the ringing ended all too soon. "What?" Blaines throat tightened because of that one word, and he choked up so he couldnt say anything. He heard noisy chewing in the background, and throat clearing. "Who the fuck is this?"

Suddenly, what sounded like gunfire rattled through the other end of the phone, startling Blaine. He jerked, but settled down again when he heard an electronic voice mutter something about a game ending. "Oh, fuck-" Karofsky whined, and for a brief second he sounded like a normal teenage boy, a boy who got upset over video games and chewed his hamburgers too loudly and stayed up until three in the morning. But Blaine knew there was more to him. "I swear, if you dont tell me who you are, Im hanging up. You made me get killed-"

"Wait!" Blaine begged, trying to focus on the road so he didnt run into a pole. The other end of the line became so quiet that Blaine wondered if Karofsky had actually hung up, and he checked the screen to make sure. "I need to ask you a question." He wanted to ask him why he put him through this, when he didnt do this to anyone else-not even Azimio, who he didnt mistreat the way he did Blaine. But he didnt, and his voice got very low. "Ill let you do whatever you want with me... if you leave Kurt alone. You cant hurt him. You can beat me for disobeying you. What do you want from me?"

Karofsky remained in silence for several seconds, but Blaine heard him swallowing. "Blaine... I never beat you. I just wanted you to know that you were mine... I didnt want you to leave me."

"You pushed me away by beating me!" Blaine instantly knew that if they had been face to face, he would have gotten slapped for an accusation like that. He almost winced just because he imagined the stinging in his cheek.

"Blaine, I didnt beat you!" Karofsky shouted, his voice shaky. "I never wanted to hurt you, but you gave me no choice. Dont call it beating. It was my way of showing my love for you-"

"Your obsession-" Blaine bitterly argued, and Karofsky hissed.

"Just... come over here now. I want you." Karofsky demanded, ignoring Blaines quiet groan. "You have no idea how long Ive wanted you to say that." At first, Blaine didnt understand what Karofsky wanted from him, if he was making clear what he was going to do to Blaine, and then he realized by the tone of his voice.

"Karofsky, wait." Blaine begged, his voice quivering with his nerves. His stomach dropped and he thought he might piss his pants. "You have to promise you wont harm Kurt after this. You owe me honesty... after all that you took from me."

Karofsky snarled at him and didnt say another word, but Blaine could tell that hed given into him. Blaine kept his phone at his ear, even though he didnt have a clue why. He was probably naïvely hoping that Karofsky would have a change in heart and tell him that they could go their separate ways, but his head was so unclear that he didnt seem to be able to lower his phone. He could just keep his eyes forward and stare at the road, jerking the steering wheel every few seconds because his hands were shaking.

The drive to Karofskys house didnt take as long as he had wanted it to, and he turned onto the short street. He pressed on the gas and finished the distance to Karofskys small house. The car swung into the driveway, and he stopped at the end of it, staring at where the headlights flashed on the porch. A huge body was leaning against the side of the house, arms crossed and feet scuffing the wood under him.

Neither of them shifted for several seconds, but Karofsky suddenly jolted away from the wall when Blaine reached for his seatbelt. Blaine pressed himself to the back of his seat, his eyes squeezing shut as Karofsky stormed off the porch. The driveway wasnt very long, giving Blaine just a few seconds before his door was almost ripped off the hinges. Karofsky yanked him from his seat, and he tumbled against Karofskys chest. He was caught in a tight grip that crushed him in half, and Karofsky jerked his head up. Their lips crashed, making Blaine cough at the force of his kisses.

Karofsky jerked him off his feet and swung him around, struggling to half carry his heavy weight into his house. "You have no idea how much Ive wanted this." He mumbled again, almost breathless as he heaved and panted. "Youre the only one Ive wanted under me. I want to be inside of you."

Tears rolled down Blaines cheeks, but he remained in silence-as he always had and he always would. He had to protect Kurt, and if this was the only way, then so be it. He didnt want Kurt to feel the pain that had always been meant for him.

Blaine watched his reflection. It stared back at him, as if damning him for what hed done. And he looked damned. Breathing unsteadily, Blaine brushed his shaking, calloused fingers over his hollow cheeks. His eyes glowed like embers waiting to burn out, dark bruises swallowing them up. His hair hung limply around his face, the strands sticking to the tear streaks on his cheeks from when hed sobbed earlier as Karofsky pounded in and out of him.

Hed never cried so hard in his life-not out of pleasure, either. The white streaks of come drenching his chest hadnt come out of him, and neither had the come dripping out of his ass. None of it had. He hadnt climaxed.

His eyes flicked down to his bruised and battered body, passing over the purple and swollen handprints from Karofsky grabbing his shoulders too firmly. His nipples were enflamed and tight from Karofskys torturous biting. Every rib in his stomach was visible because of how much weight hed been dropping, his hips sharper, his thighs scrawny. His fingers traced patterns on his bony ass, and he spun around and peeled his ass cheeks apart to examine the damage in the mirror. Blood coated the skin around his widened entrance. He noticed blood dripping from his skinned palms from how much and how horribly hed unconsciously clawed at them.

He wanted to throw up.

He wanted to cry.

But instead he was numb, his emotions paralyzed. Hed been raped.

He shouldnt have felt so changed by rape, as hed been with other people besides Kurt, but at least Kurt was safe now. That was all that mattered.

He was all that mattered.

Turning away from the mirror, Blaine glanced into the bedroom, where Karofsky was passed out on his bed. He flinched at his naked body and looked down, spying his clothes on the floor. He decided itd be best to get dressed and leave before he woke up. He started pulling his pants up his thighs when his phone buzzed in his pocket, jerking him out of a daze.

Grabbing it, he opened his newest text message, which was from Santana. He thought about ignoring it, but then figured those petty insults theyd shared before were probably over and that this could have been about the baby, so he opened it.

Want to hang out? Blaine raised his brows at those four words, unsure of what she could mean by that, but he stood up, anyway.

"You look like shit." Blaine heard Santana tell him as he approached. Rolling his eyes, he reached up to his damp curls that were smashed down under a dark hood. His lips hurt from being so cracked and dry. Sitting down at the table with her, he slouched and took a deep breath. "Dont tell me you and Kurt broke up."

She passed him a black coffee that he really needed, and he took a few long drinks. It burned his tongue, but it got the taste of Karofsky out of his mouth. "No," he grumbled lowly once he set it back down. "I have a lot to tell you. But whyd you call me over here?"

"I was bored," she admitted, digging her phone out of her pocket and checking her lack of text messages for proof. "I didnt think I would miss McKinley but I do. Quinns out shopping for baby food and I had no one else to call. Are you sure youre okay, Blaine? You look like you havent slept in days. You seemed pretty happy before I left McKinley. Does it have something to do with Kurt? Come on, dont make me guess here."

"It has nothing to do with Kurt," Blaine said honestly, shrugging his shoulders. "Can you keep a secret, Santana?"

"Shoot," she encouraged. "I kept my sexuality a secret for a while. Besides, youre pretty much my only friend right now and I cannot be friendless. Santana Lopez does not do friendless."

"Its about Karofsky," Blaine blurted without much affair, holding his eyes to the Lima Bean brand name on the side of his coffee cup. "And a little bit about Kurt. Have you noticed lately that Karofsky is getting... worse?"

"In bed or just in general?" Santana joked, which made Blaine glare at her. "Because Ive never tried him in bed. Itd be like getting suffocated by a baby walrus, but carry on."

Blaines expression all but died, and he lowered his eyes again. "I mean..." he made a gesture with his hands, "with everything. Santana, hes not the same person. Its like I never... knew him, and he was the only person I hung out with for years."

"No, you didnt know him." Santanas voice became very serious for a moment. "You never saw what he was really like. Hes always been cruel... even worse than what he let on around you. Whenever he was with you, he was always possessive. Hed glare at people who tried to come near you."

Blaine didnt like hearing that, so he chose to ignore it. Clearing his throat, he muttered, "I was... raped last night."

Santanas jaw dropped and it seemed to take her a moment to recover, her pupils blown out of proportion, "By... Karofsky?"

"It was the only way!" Blaine shouted defensively, then lowered his head when a couple at another table glared at him. "I made a deal with him... if he fucked me, he wouldnt hurt Kurt again. I cant risk Kurt."

Santana shook her head, "But Karofsky isnt going to stop just because you made a deal with him. And I cant sit back and watch you become his whore. I wont do it. Youre better than that. You need to tell someone."

"Tell who?" He snapped. "Theres no one I can talk to... not that I need anyone to take care of him for me. Hes my problem, and Im handling him."

"By letting him rape you?" Santanas eyes narrowed. "Youre insane, Blaine." Crossing her arms, she leaned back and covered her face with her hands. "Whatever. I cant change your mind... No one can." She looked up again, and she blew out heavily, "I might come back to McKinley. I dont know... I lost my job at Junior Prada right after the fight. Besides, I miss Brittany... and being pissed at her for letting someone else screw her vagina isnt helping."

Blaine took another drink of his coffee, "I dont know if Karofskys left school. I havent seen him around... but he might come back. You cant talk about this... to anyone. Not even Kurt. He cant know."

"Fine, Ill keep my mouth shut." She shoved her hair off her face, "But I do want to destroy him. Im on your side, Blaine."

Grabbing a lock of his hair and tugging on it, Blaine pushed away from the table and muttered, "I have to get home to Kurt. Do you think I could take a shower at your place?"

"Yeah." Santana scooted out of her chair, and the two of them headed for the doors. "You know, someday Karofskys mistakes are going to come back and bite him in the ass. I promise, Blaine."

Blaine took a deep breath, wondering if he could believe her, that Karofsky would self-destruct because of his own hatred. Part of him, somewhere deep down, felt bad for Karofsky that no one could bring him back like Kurt had brought him back, but another part wanted him gone.