(gif by hazzawckd <3 )
words: 4101
playlist: literally any chase alantic songs
READER IS BLACK.

Something about Hobie drove my mind mad, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Out of everyone I grew up with, met in my adolescent life or went to summer camp with, I never had a second thought I shouldn't be around them, but Hobie is a completely different story. Every time I was around him my body would tense up and I could feel the trickle of sweat down the back of my neck; he's obnoxious, rude, dangerous, risky and threatening. I could feel a massive lump in the back of my throat, like a barbwire wrapped around to restrict me from screaming for help. It was hard to think around him, hard to speak, hard to breathe, hard to be by myself. Whenever he was in my presence, he made me so erratic. When things were normal between us, I just felt nervous; but most of the time I'm just nervous.

His behavior flip flops the most, making him the most toxic person in my life. For a while now, I assumed he was bipolar, but now I just think he has very bad anger problems and hates the world around him.

I watched him from behind as we walked down the street, a to-go cup in his hand as he drank the melted milkshake he flirted his way out of paying and getting another one, the stolen sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose covering his brown orbs. I looked him up and down, watching his free arm sway as he walked. It was a little bit after three in the afternoon as we walked side by side, past the vendors and little stores along the sidewalk. The weather continues to scorch us, but I think a little sun wouldn't hurt the two of us.

"Can I ask why you saved me?" I spoke up finally, breaking the silence between the two of us, a question that circled my mind since the moment he told me what he did.

He looked down and over to me, his jaw sharpening when he sucked on the straw.

"Didn't I tell you already? Pretty sure we already went over this." He murmurs, looking back ahead of him as we continue on our journey.

"Yeah, but you said something that stuck with me in New York on the rooftop." I murmur back.

"And what was that?" He chuckles in amusement, the two of us weaving through the sea of people until we stopped in front of a store, walking inside.

"Why would you want to save someone who is making your life a living hell?" I quote his exact words from that night.

He goes quiet as we walk further into the store, the to-go cup in the cup and replaced with the yo-yo. I waited patiently for an answer, hoping he wouldn't try and steer from it.

"Do you like adventures?" He instead asks a question back.

"Answer the question." I mumble, walking towards a few t-shirts standing in the back near a dressing room. I was on alert he would blow up for me correcting him.

"I am." He answers back, "Do you like adventures?"

I knit my brows together, peering over the racks taking in his side profile.

"I mean, it depends on if my life is on the line." I answered, not understanding where this was going.

"Obviously doing stuff that keeps you alive, but what about adrenaline rush?" He let me look around the racks, leaning against the one in front of me with a smirk on his lips.

I pulled a few shirts off the rack and left him alone with an unanswered response. The next thing I know is his hands on my waist and yanking me over in his direction, my shows scraping against the floor of the store as he pulled us quickly into a dressing room, locking the door behind us.

The room was tucked in the corner, small and cramped as it was; so two people in here didn't work. I couldn't process what was happening until he grabbed my hip and pushed my back against the brick wall, the shirts tossed onto the little bench under a mirror. He was quick to be standing right in my proximity, height difference making him a whole head taller than me as I peered up at him.

With my head against the wall I looked up at him, heart racing as the public chatter outside the door was getting louder than distanced. I turned my head to the mirror to not make any eye contact with him, I didn't feel like he would hurt me or take advantage of me; but if I needed to scream I knew I could do it.

"I'm talking about," he leaned his forehead on his forearm above my head, glancing down at me while he still held my hip. He didn't bother to turn my head to have me look at him, I knew he could see my lips tucked to hide them and my cheeks covered in red. "Illegal stuff."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and stared at him through the mirror, smelling his cologne mixed with the sweet smell of vanilla from his milkshake he recently just had. His eyes were still disguised with those black stolen sunglasses.

"I–"

"Don't act like you haven't done something like that. I dug into your past just a little bit, you used to do some undergr–"

"Yeah, I'll do a little adventure. What's it to you."

He smiles and raises his hand off my hip so he could grip my jaw to tun it towards me, his lip sucked in between his lips with a small breath leaving his lips, staring down at me.

"The adrenaline of doing something like that is what makes adventures and memories, baby." He grins with a cockiness in him that never seems to face anymore, no matter how many times he gets humbled.

"Why are you telling me this?" I murmur, my chest rising heavy as his left leg was pressed in between my own to hold me in place.

"Do you want to make some extra cash?" He spoke in a way that was more of a proposition.

I arched my brow, the air between us very dense. I was intimidated by his close proximity, his tall body leaning closer to my face above my head while clenching the yo-yo.

"What kind of extra cash?" I whispered.

"Money from a little.. adventure. A helping hand." He whispers right back.

Illegal activity, he means.

"Could help you out a lot." He rasps in persuasion.

"I'm a woman that needs to see numbers and cash up front before I agree to anything." I spoke my terms before anything else.

"Depending on who needs you that day, it could range from 2000 to 7000."

That's a lot, but it could also help my personal needs. The only problem I had was that I didn't want to be in his debt, having to pay him back if he ever felt like I was of no use to him anymore, or he just didn't want to see my face any more.

"That sounds like a lot of blood money." I shake my head. "I don't want to be in your debt."

"Sounds like you scared." He smirks, pushing his hips against mine.

"I put that past behind me, I don't want to open up something I tried my hardest to close." I shook my head and felt a nervous pit.

"I know you need the cash. You really want to give up this opportunity to make yourself a lot richer because you 'no longer' live that lifestyle." He kept going with a hint of seduction in his voice.

I was very curious about what he needed me specifically for when his whole band was full of people with many talents that dance on the line of legal or illegal. There was no point, I promised Ellie I would put that lifestyle behind myself after she passed, I wasn't going to go against her wishes just for some cash that Hobie wanted me to do. If I get him to tell me the tasks then it will just be me opening up a window of him thinking I'm going to agree and I don't want that. I don't even like the fact he went snooping into my past life, which raised a question as to why he was even thinking of doing that. For all I know he'll trap me into something that will cause my life to be tampered with until I die.

"Nah." I shook my head. "I don't care about money, adventure or memories." I decline for the last time, hoping he'll drop it.

"You care about the money, but you care more about getting caught by something from your past that you are hiding." He clarifies, taking his forearm off the wall over my head but still looking down at me.

"Just because I was forced to be on this tour doesn't mean you can tell me what I can and can not do. I'm not going to force my way into doing something illegal." I shake my head in rejection, putting my foot down that he didn't have that power over me.

He stares down at me for a split second, lips closed and sunglasses covering the wanting eyes he was sending me. He chuckles through his nose, turning his head to the side to look towards the door like he was waiting for the chatter next door in the other dressing room to leave.

He suddenly bends down a bit and grabs the back of my thighs, yanking me up to have my legs wrap around his waist before he sat us down on the bench. I gasp out and blinding grab his shoulders in reflex, his arms lifting me up to straddle his waist sitting on the bench.

Now head level with him, I widened my eyes as his hands slid up to force my legs to stay hooked around his hips.

"Let me go." I say immediately as my chest was pressed up against his own, starting to rise and fall more noticeably. I was nervous.

"Don't you like staying on my good side?" He whispers with my eyes glancing behind him to stare at us through the mirror.

"Let's face it, you have no good side and if you did, I would never be on it." I shake my head.

He exhales with a smile, his hips shifting right underneath my own legs. He kept his hands on my thighs to hold me in place, I was trapped.

"You may be right, but would you rather be dead?" He threatens.

I stared right into the lens of the sunglasses, taking them off to put on my own face before sighing. I couldn't lie and say that my body had goosebumps, but his all bark and not bite act was starting to get on my nerves. "You sure do talk a lot of motion, but when it comes down to it you do nothing."

"You know the only reason I saved your life was because I needed you for help. Without your help, you are no use to me."

I rolled my eyes once more, glad he couldn't see my eyes anymore. "People are just some chess pieces you can use whenever you want. God didn't put me on this earth as your playing card to use when you feel convenient. You want to make my life hell, go ahead. But don't use me for something just because you are too much of a pussy ass nigga to do it yourself." I shot back, shaking my head.

"Are you standing up for yourself?" He cocks his head to the side in amusement, not taking me seriously.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, turning to look away from him again. There was no point trying to reason with him or put my foot down again and again, he'll just keep shutting me down.

"If you want to hate me, then hate me. But don't save my life, ask me questions about my life, take me out for lunch and try to pretend like you want to know who I am just to warm me up for some illegal stuff that you 'read' I used to do. All I wanted was to be civil, so you didn't give me death glares when we have to be in the same fucking room when I'm pining a goddamn smiley face on your shirt." I turn my head back to him, our faces close to one another now.

"This is me being civil." Is all he says from that.

"No the fuck it isn't! It's you threatening me, you think I owe you now because of what you did last night. But even though I don't remember shit what happened, I'm sure you are also the reason I ended up on that roof to begin with."

"You got drugged." He was quick to defend himself.

"And what caused me to end up on the rooftop and not in my hotel bed or the hospital?" I say right back, waiting for an answer I already knew.

He went silent, staring at me for a second until chuckling to himself and turning his head away. He wasn't answering because he knew I was right for once between a conversation he and I had together.

"You were chasing after me and I was terrified of you. Of dying." I answered for him, knowing he wouldn't.

I knew he was only using his 'heroic' rescue playing tool as a way to seem good in my eyes, but I was tired of the false reality he would change. He was starting to anger me.

"If it wasn't for me, you would've woken up chained to a bartender's bed raped, dead or chopped up fashion killa." He mutters to me.

"And I greatly thank you for that, but I won't spend my time here trying to make things right between us when you double back and it gets more and more awful." I shake my head, feeling drained from the conversation between him and I.

He laughs a bit and leaning in closer, in reflex I lean back with my hands still gripping his broad shoulders to hold myself in place and not fall back, but just tight enough to have leverage to stabilize myself. He takes this opportunity to slide his hand from my thigh up to the lower of my back, pushing me forward so my face falls down to his face, his lips resting on the side of my face.

"You should watch your tone with me, how I've been acting towards you is my nice side. You have yet to see who I really am behind closed doors, you see a fragment. So I suggest you keep your pretty little fucking mouth shut the next time you want to stand up to me." He mutters as he keeps his lips brushing against my temple right by ear, hot air making me shake when it trailed down my neck.

"Or what."

He dips his head down to my neck, running the under part of his nose down my arch. I stayed frozen like a statue, legs shifting around his hips; a low groan leaving his lips. My heart started thrashing harder like I was running, my body breaking out into a cold sweat.

He suddenly places his lips against my skin. I shudder at the soft touch, staying wrapped around him without a choice. I held my breath the minute his mouth touched my body, everything in me stopped. He parts his lips, kissing very slowly down my temple until the flesh of his lips press against my neck.

"I can–" he kissed once.

"make your–" kiss again.

"life–" then again.

"very very hard sweetheart–" once more.

A spark went through me every time he kissed my skin, next to the pit of want from his words. I couldn't move, my body paralyzed. I hated him so much, but I couldn't push him away.

He lets go of my legs for a second, pushing my arms that were previously gripping his shoulders to wrap fully around his neck to grab his hair.

He takes a split second to lift his lips off my skin to savor the feeling of what he was doing, the second he had time to really think about what he was doing he grabbed my thighs again to hold me in place with them around his hips.

He brings his lips back to my neck, gently parting them against the spot underneath my ear. I widened my eyes with a soft gasp leaving my lips, tilting my head to the side to give him more access on accident, it was my body doing this all on her own. I stared at what was going on in the mirror, watching his back muscles tense just slightly from holding back whatever he wanted to fully do. I tried to tune into the sounds around me, just making sure no one was listening or close by.

Right as I was about to speak in protest to make this stop, he mildly bites down on my neck and sucks, replacing the soft kiss to a tough tether of the skin. I sucked in a harsh breath as he sucked on my skin, lapsing his tongue as he did it. I tighten my legs at the intensity.

He drags his lips up my neck, meeting my ear to where he tugs on the earlobe. I felt my body jolt just a bit, moaning very quietly from the sensitive spot he found fast, making my whole body clenching.

His wet lips suck right under my ear, my hips meet his own shifting ones below me as he starts to help me grind against him. I wasn't happy when I felt that ache in my core, it meant my body was slowly about to fall apart above him.

He breathed deep and heavy, creating small marks on my body like it was his one and only goal. My body started melting in his hold, feeling something that I haven't in a long time. My hands that he put in his hair earlier, were now tugging at his roots. I tugged his head back, his eyes closed and just briefly fluttering open when our lips connected together instead now. My hips still moving against him, my sensitive core slightly pulsing and I knew he was feeling it too; I could feel the poke right in between my thighs.

The second I pulled his hair he grunted into my mouth, pushing my hips down onto his lap so he could push up harder in between my legs. He enjoyed when I tugged his hair, taking control just a bit in a situation like this.

His hips shifted more in friction, I could feel how hard he was getting when I felt the dense pressure between my legs. I smirked against his lips, slipping my tongue into his mouth. His hips stopped gyrating against my own, letting me take control again.

The ache in my core made my mind extremely cloudy, everything was becoming very sensitive. It was getting hard to breathe, my own hand moved to rest on the mirror behind us once I felt him lean back a bit so I could push my hips and rock them against his bulge.

He drew his lips away, tilting my head to the side with his nose as he trailed wet kisses up the side of my neck to my ear again, exhaling a bit of bewildered breath into it. My whole body shuddered as I gripped his shoulders and leaned down to kiss his neck.

"I promise I can make you feel the best you've ever had in a long time." He whispered with his lips against my ear, his voice shaking just a bit from the kisses I left on his neck.

"I can't." I breathed out suddenly, pushing my head back as I stared at him with a crazed look in my eye.

"Yes you can" He whispers, drawing his hips slowly so he is grinding between my legs again. "I promise I'll make you forget about any other guy you were with."

My lower stomach pumped with adrenaline just from his tempting words, my mind screaming to go for it, my core dying for contract as he kept grinding him against me. I was getting fidgety, my mind completely clouded.

But this wasn't right.

He dips his head down and turns his head, kissing the side of my throat. I tossed my head back with my hand covering my lips to stop myself from letting out a moan, his heavy breathing going down my throat and to my chest, my nipples erecting through my shirt.

"Hob–" I wanted to fight this but I couldn't get a word out, my mind was fighting so hard with my body and not letting my halt this pleasure he was giving me.

He suddenly stands us up with my legs still wrapped around his waist as he pushes us against the wall, one leg dropped to the floor. I didn't realize what he was doing until I felt his fingers start to undo the restriction of my pants to pull them down. I looked down and saw his ring covered fingers playing with them, but my eyes focused immediately on something else. I couldn't help but finally read the name on his bracelet that said 'MJ'

"Wait–no stop." I reached down and grabbed his hands that were close to slipping down my pants, pushing him back.

He stopped and pulled his head up from my neck, both of us out of breath. His lips were swollen and dark pink, his tongue lapsing over his bottom lip to make them more wet. I pushed up the sunglasses on my face to my head, my breathing heavily in anticipation knowing this had to stop, especially with that nickname.

"I can't do this–" I shake my head, weighing all the possible circumstances.

"No one can see us." He spoke like that was the problem.

"I know. I just. I just."

"What?"

"I–I can't, I just do..."

"You don't want to." He answers for me, figuring out my stuttering and stammering mess.

I paused and breathed, trying to find the right words before I got heavily embarrassed.

"I want to, it's just.."

He drops my legs to let my soul meet the cement, taking a step away from me. I look up at him, my legs shaking. He took his sunglasses off my head, placing them back on his face. My back stayed pressed to the wall as he looked down at me, it was an abrupt transition and I was still trying to process what all just happened.

He reached down and gently tied the strings around my pants. "Your choice." He casually says. "Your loss."

I cleared my throat, forgetting what we were even talking about to get to this point.

"I'm just... I don't know anymore." I place a hand on my stomach, feeling the butterflies in it.

"Don't bore me with feelings or drama, fashion killa." He rejected me immediately and I was a bit offended.

"I'm not, what the fuck?" I stood timidly, pushing my back off the wall. "You hate me."

"So that means I can't physically be attracted to you?"

"That's cruel."

"No it isn't." He leaned against the wall of the dressing room, crossing his ankles one over the other. "Are you lying about that sex story you told me about?"

"No."

"Then what's the reason?"

"Just drop it." I murmur, looking at the shirts that I did want to buy and try on.

"Tell me before I go digging myself."

"Because you fucking scare me!" I shout a bit too loudly, making the chatter in the rooms next to us pause their own conversations.

He slowly laughs to himself, almost like I wasn't meant to hear. It wasn't until he pushed himself off the dressing room wall and grip the door handle to leave. I hold my breath when he leans down to my level, eyes glancing over my features one last time before chuckling.

"I wouldn't want it any other way."