I can't Hurt You - Marcus Lopez Arguello

64

After our meet-up at the comic book store it was late so we headed back to King's. I went straight for the showers and told Marcus I'd be back in a couple minutes, but when I came back to our dorm he wasn't there. So I went to the only other place he could possibly be in at this time: the roof.

I opened the door to our hangout spot and stepped out, closing the door behind me. After looking around for a couple seconds I saw Marcus sat on the edge of the roof smoking a cigarette and looking out onto the city. I walked towards him quietly, not wanting to startle him.

"Hey." I said as I came up next to him and took a seat beside him.

"Hey." He replied as he looked over at me and back to the city.

"Mind?" I asked as I stuck my hand out asking for a puff of his cigarette.

"Sure." He said.

Before I could reach over to the cigarette he took a puff. Then he leaned over and wrapped his hand around my throat and kissed me, exhaling the smoke from his mouth and into mine.

God, the butterflies I get from him should be fucking illegal.

I inhaled the smoke before he leaned back to his original spot and looked back at the city unfazed like nothing had happened. Meanwhile I sat next to him looking like I just saw a ghost.

When he noticed how quiet I got he looked back at me and saw my shocked expression triggering a smile from him.

"What?" He asked as the smile that had crept onto his face got bigger.

"Nothing, it's- I'm- uh- nothing..." I stuttered still in shock.

He let out one of his adorable laughs before speaking again.

"Stuttering? Do I make you nervous?" He asked arrogantly.

Normally his arrogant side would trigger a cocky remark from me, but this time it didn't. This time it was hot. This time I desperately wanted to rip his fucking clothes off. Well, maybe that's normal at this point.

Christ, when did I get so horny?

"N- no." I denied trying to gain my composure back.

"Right, whatever helps you sleep at night, pretty girl." He said as he flicked the ash off his cigarette and placed his free hand on my upper inner thigh.

I tried to start up a conversation and distract myself from the obvious heartbeat in my pants.

"What are you um- what are you doing here?" I managed to get out.

"I'm always here at this time." He replied.

"Not when the others aren't." I said.

"Yeah well I needed to clear my head." He said before he took a puff of his cigarette.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked as I played with his fingers on my thigh.

"Everything. Chester. The others. Us." He listed.

"Talk to me." I said making him aware that I was here to rant to if needed.

He took a deep sigh before letting himself speak on his thoughts.

"Nothing much. I'm just overwhelmed. Chester's trying to kill the only people I care about and ruin my life, and I can't let him do that. You guys are the only people that've really felt like home since my parents died. You feel like home, Emma. I can't let him take you away." He spoke as he looked down at the city, mostly because he was trying to avoid looking at me while spilling his heart out.

"Hey, look at me." I said as I put my hand on his cheek.

He turned his face to look at mine. Now it was like staring contest, both staring deeply and intensely into each other's eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere. We're gonna fight together and we're gonna come out of that freaky hideout together. I need you to trust that, though. Trust me." I said.

"I trust you." He nodded.

Suddenly we heard the roof door open from behind us. Shabnam stumbled out clumsily and the door closed behind him. Always ruining the moment.

"Fuck me." I whispered under my breath ask took my hand off Marcus's cheek.

His eyes finally landed on us so he walked over with a big dorky smile on his face, and not the cute kind. Marcus and I having human decency threw the cigarette off the roof turned around so we were facing him.

"Hey guys. What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Kind of our hangout spot, Shab. You?" I asked.

"Yeah, Lex told me to throw myself off the roof, but I think that's just a nice way of saying to come up here and clear my head." Shabnam tried to be positive.

"Right... it's not." I told him.

Marcus nudged me, mentally asking me to be nicer.

"Right, so, headed home for Spring break?" Shabnam asked.

Marcus and I stared at him with a blank expression. Head home to what family, smartass?

"Oh, right. Homeless, no family, tragic backstory. We don't really do anything on Spring break either, but we're really into Chinese takeout." Shabnam tried to relate to us.

Shabnam's parents. Chester's hideout. Why the fuck haven't we questioned him yet?

I looked over at Marcus and it seemed he had the same thought since he looked back at me with the same expression. We both looked back at Shabnam before Marcus spoke up.

"Hey, Shab, do you..." Marcus tried to find a way to word his thoughts.

"Do I what?" Shabnam asked.

"Just, you- you've been talking to your parents a lot recently." Marcus pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah. Normally they're so preoccupied with whatever coup they're funding that they don't care that I got an 'A' in Forgery-" Shabnam ranted before I cut him off.

"It's just, um... you haven't told them anything about Marcus and I, right?" I asked.

"Pardon?" Shabnam asked in confusion.

"Have you mentioned us?" Marcus asked directly.

"No..." Shabnam said hesitantly.

"Shab, if you're gonna lie, do it better." I said before I stood up and headed towards the door to go back to the dorms.

Marcus followed me of course.

"Shabnam isn't safe." Marcus said as we walked down the empty hallways on the way to our dorm.

"No one in this goddamn place is safe." I said in a frustrated tone.

We kept walking towards the dorm in silence for a minute or two before I spoke up again.

"Lex said his contact for the bombs is gonna be at the Adolescents show tomorrow night. Bring whatever money you've got." I changed the subject.

"Alright. We can store the explosives in the shop." Marcus suggested.

"Perfect." I dismissed the topic as we made it to our dorm.

Well, as close to perfect as things get in this situation.

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Hi loves! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy with different things like vacation, planning for my next birthday, etc. School is starting up soon for me so I will be busy since I'll be taking all AP classes this year, but I will try to update as often as possible. I love getting new chapters out to you guys so I will definitely make writing one of my top priorities. Also, thank you all so much for 4K reads. It means so much to see that you guys are enjoying my works because I really put effort into making Emma's character and personality, and adding her into the storyline. That should be all my loves. Stay safe I love you all! <3