Puppy Love - 17. Chapter 17

Slowly opening his eyes, Levi looked around him, the side of his head hurt from where he had been thrown around when the chopper had crashed landed. He tried to move to make sure that nothing had been broken and other than a few aches he felt like there was no major damage. Climbing slowly to his feet, Levi looked around for Blaine only to find that he was no longer in the chopper. Worried about what could be happening, Levi made his way through the wreckage until he had found both Renee and Derek. Finding a pulse on both, Levi made his way out of the chopper, since he knew that help was on its way, Levi’s first priority was to find Blaine.

Despite the canopy of trees, the bright light shining into the small clearing hurt Levi’s eyes. It took a few moments, but once his eyes had adjusted, Levi began to look around for any sign of where Blaine might be. Levi checked the ground around him and found footprints only moments before he heard a scream. Fearing the worse, Levi ran towards where the scream came from and stopped in his tracks as he found Blaine lying on the ground, Michael lying on top of him. Michael looked up as Levi entered the edge of the small group of trees. The look in his eyes made Levi’s blood run cold and he could not stop the shiver that ran through his body. The only way to describe Michael’s eyes was eyes filled with contempt, lust, and what looked like victory.

“Come to see the show?” Michael asked, his voice cold.

“Get off of him Michael,” Levi growled, his hands clenched into fists at his side as he tried to figure the best way to help his lover.

“Now why would I want to do that,” Michael sneered. “It’s just one more little conquest in my honor, I’ve already had him before, but once I’m done with him, he can watch me do the same to you. A two for one deal if you want to look at it that way.”

“You want me, then go for it, but leave him alone,” Levi answered as he took a step closer to where the two men were on the ground. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest as he took another step.

“Don’t even think about it,” Michael said as he grabbed something up off the ground. In the mere seconds that it took for Levi to recognize a knife, the blade was pressed against Blaine’s neck. He felt helpless as he watched Michael undo his own pants and push them past his waist. The struggle to get them down caused the tip of the knife to poke into Blaine’s neck, pricking it and causing a small droplet of blood to appear. Knowing that Michael was concentrating more on what he was doing than what Levi was doing, Levi took another step towards them, only stopping when the movement of Michael’s head indicated he was going to look up. He was only a few yards from them now, but if Levi wasn’t careful then that knife was going to slice through Blaine’s flesh.

“I’m sure you know that back-up is on the way,” Levi stated, hoping to distract Michael from what he was intent on doing. “They’ll be here any time.”

“I’m sure they will be, but your precious Allen gave them the wrong coordinates,” Michael answered.

“He probably would have if Derek and Renee hadn’t figured out what was going on. Derek called in right before we crashed.”

“Whether they’re on their way or not does not matter, I’ll be long gone before they can get here. As for Derek and Renee, I hope they come to and try to come to your rescue, and then they’ll get the chance to see how much they failed in protecting you.”

“You’re not going to get away with this Michael,” Levi said quietly, his gaze stuck on Blaine’s eyes fluttering open. Michael hadn’t noticed that Blaine had come to and so Levi tried to keep Michael’s attention diverted from where Blaine lay underneath him. “Why go to such lengths Michael? You could have gone after someone else, why Blaine?”

“He got away from me, he’s the first that survived so long, and I couldn’t let my record be tarnished.”

Levi forced himself to maintain eye contact with Michael, hoping that Blaine was lucid enough to be able to help in getting Michael to drop the knife. As though he could read Levi’s mind, Blaine suddenly jerked his knee up, hitting Michael securely in the crotch. As soon as Levi saw Blaine’s knee come up he lunged, knocking Michael away from Blaine, both of the men crashing to the hard ground. Levi saw Michael reaching towards the knife laying in the dirt and rolled, taking Michael with him and further away from the knife.

“You bastard,” Levi cried out as Michael rolled them both towards the knife, seeing him stretching again for the knife, Levi followed Blaine’s lead and quickly brought his knee up. Michael fell to the side, moaning in agony as Levi pinned him down and began pummeling him. Levi continued to let all his built up anger out as he pounded his fist into the other man’s face barely noticing the blood trickling out of Michael’s mouth.

Levi was out of it enough that he never heard footsteps approaching. He felt hands grab at him and figuring it was someone else involved with Michael, he turned his upper body and swung wildly, catching the person in the abdomen. At the angle he was at he was unable to deliver a hard blow and his hands were caught as he went to swing again.

“Levi, c’mon man, it’s me, Derek,” Derek’s voice managed to penetrate the fog in Levi’s brain and the fight quickly drained from him as he looked up into the older man’s face. After realizing it really was Derek, Levi looked down to where Michael laid, multiple abrasions on his face and blood trickling from his mouth. Knowing that Michael wasn’t going anywhere, Levi rushed over to where Blaine lay looking at him. Kneeling down next to his lover, Levi gave way to his emotions and to the fear that had held him when he saw that knife pressed against Blaine’s neck.

“Hey, it’s okay babe,” Blaine said quietly, taking Levi’s hand in his own. “You came to my rescue,” Blaine said tenderly. “Just remind me never to piss you off,” Blaine joked, trying to relieve the tension radiating from Levi.

“That wasn’t funny Blaine,” Levi retorted as tears trickled from his eyes. He had come so close to losing Blaine and he never wanted to go there again. He was about to say something else when a quiet bark came from the edge of the trees only moments before Ruff came bounding through the trees and straight to Blaine.

Blaine couldn’t explain his feelings about everything that had happened except he was grateful to be alive. When he woke up after the crash to find Michael leering at him he had figured he was done for. He should have known that somehow Levi would find him. Blaine was brought out of his reverie when Ruff started trying to lick his face while Levi held him back. Reaching a hand up, he lightly stroked Ruff’s soft hair as he looked into Levi’s eyes, unsure exactly what it was that he saw there.

“You okay?” Levi asked, unsure what else to say.

“I would be better if you’d give me a kiss,” Blaine said smiling.

His mouth tilting in a small smile, Levi leaned down and placed a fleeting kiss against Blaine’s lips. He could tell that Blaine was about to ask him something when they were interrupted by Derek.

“It’s all over, medics will be here shortly to check you out Blaine,” Derek said as he laid a hand lightly against Blaine’s shoulder. “As for you,” he said turning to Levi, “do you even realize how close you came to being killed? Or didn’t you think about the fact that Michael would have a gun?”

“What the hell was I supposed to do Derek? You and Renee were both out cold and Blaine was missing. Did you just expect me to sit there and do nothing? Is that what you would have done?” Levi asked accusingly.

“I understand why you did it, I never said that I didn’t, but you took a huge chance,” Derek answered.

“I did what I had to do, and I’d do it again if I had to,” Levi answered, not bothering to look at Derek, his gaze focused on Blaine. When he saw Blaine wince, Levi started checking him over as he cursed himself inwardly, he should have checked Blaine over as soon as Michael was taken care of. His only reasoning was that he wasn’t thinking straight and was just glad to have Blaine alive. Starting at Blaine’s head, Levi slowly ran his hands down over his body, looking for injuries. When he reached just below the base of Blaine’s neck he felt something sticky and pulled his hand back, quickly noting the blood that clung to his fingers. Pulling the edge of Blaine’s shirt gently away, Levi found multiple shallow cuts.

“What the hell did he do to you before I got here,” Levi swore.

“It’s nothing babe, just a few cuts, they don’t even hurt that much,” Blaine answered, trying to help alleviate the worry that he saw in Levi’s eyes. He watched as Levi looked over to where Michael laid, his hands cuffed behind him. When Levi made a move to get up, Blaine grabbed his hand, pleading with his eyes. “Levi, please, let it go, he’s caught. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

“Can you really just forget everything that’s happened? Is it that easy for you?” Levi asked, climbing to his feet and pacing in front of where Blaine lay. Realizing how uncomfortable Blaine had to be, Levi helped him move to prop against a tree before beginning to pace again. “How can you say he can’t hurt us anymore? I will live the rest of my life with the image of that knife,” Levi pointed to the serrated blade lying only feet away, “pressed against your throat, pricking you and making you bleed. Always knowing that one false move on my part would have ended your life and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Those images aren’t going to go away that easily, if they ever do.”

Blaine was just getting to answer when the medics finally made their way into the small clearing. He tried to get Levi’s attention as the medics began to bandage the cuts on his upper torso, but whether it was purposely or not, Levi was avoiding his gaze. Blaine wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that Levi now seemed to be avoiding him, but he knew that eventually they would sit down and talk it all out, it was only a matter of time.

Levi mulled over everything that had happened with him and Blaine and was still trying to figure out exactly how Blaine believed that everything would go away. He knew what lay ahead of them, they may not have to worry about Michael coming after them, but he knew that they still would have to go through a trial. He could only hope that Michael would plead guilty and save both himself and Blaine from going through the ordeal of a trial.

He was already beating himself up for everything that had happened. Some part of him couldn’t help but believe that Blaine would not have had to go through everything he had if he hadn’t come into his life. He knew that eventually Blaine would figure that out and that he would end up hating him for it. He didn’t know how he was going to deal with it when it happened but figured he would have to find a way. Until everything went down, Levi figured it was better to distance himself. That way it hopefully would not hurt as bad when Blaine walked out of his life.

Levi turned and watched as the medics loaded Blaine onto the stretcher and began to make their way back through the trees. Wanting to make sure Blaine was comfortable, Levi walked next to the stretcher, forcing a smile for Blaine. He did not want Blaine to feel like he no longer loved him, because that simply was not the case. Blaine would have his support as long as he wanted it.