Riverdale Imagines and Preferences

Joaquin Santos- A Protector

A/N: This is an imagine requested by jmz1014

Scarlett was walking down the sidewalk in the Southside trying to get home. She had been picking up an extra shift at Pop's and now it was almost 11 at night. The skies were dark and there wasn't anyone around, which did make her nervous at first but she knew that she needed to get home.
As she was walking, she heard footsteps behind her and she turned to see a man with broad shoulders and brown hair walking behind her. Her heart thundered once she saw his Southside Serpents leather jacket. The Serpents couldn't be trusted, unless you were close to a member. Scarlett was not and so she hurried her pace, and tried to ignore the man behind her.
Scarlett had been walking for a while now and the man had not left, so she turned around and braced herself for confrontation.
"What are you doing?" She snapped at him. He said nothing, but he looked at her with beady eyes and a menacing grin.
"Are you following me?" Scarlett asked. The man took a step forward and Scarlett stayed where she was. She was about to turn back around when the man pulled a gun from inside his jacket and pointed it at her.
"Get on your knees. Now." He said. Scarlett's heart pounded and she quickly sank to her knees, into the freezing cold snow that layered the ground.
The man walked up to her and began to pat down her sides, his hands sometimes roamed a bit farther than necessary. Scarlett shut her eyes tightly and tried not to move when suddenly his hand were lifted off of her body and he was thrown to the floor. Her eyes snapped open to see what had happened and there stood her savior. He had shoulder length black hair, steely eyes, and broad shoulders. Scarlett would have swooned if she hadn't seen his jacket.
He was another Serpent.
The man who had tried to mug Scarlett got up and lunged for her savior, who stepped to the side and punched the man in the face.
"Get out of here! Leave!" He shouted. The mugger turned to Scarlett one last time and then he turned and walked away.
Scarlett's savior then turned to her and offered his hand to her. She scrambled away on her hands and knees, thinking that he was going to hurt her.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," the boy soothed Scarlett. She shakily grabbed his hand and he lifted her to her feet with ease.
"He's not going to hurt you anymore, I promise." He whispered to her. Scarlett looked at him nervously and nodded her thanks. Her smiled slightly at her before shrugging off his jacket.
"Here, take this, you must be freezing." He said and tried to hand her his jacket. Scarlett again backed away from him and he sighed sadly. The boy tossed her his jacket and apologized for getting too close.
"My name's Joaquin, what's yours?" He asked.
"Scarlett...thank you for saving me..." She replied, beginning to warm up to him. She pulled on his jacket and was instantly surrounded by warmth and felt much more comforted.
The boy turned around and was going to leave, but Scarlett stopped him.
"How will I give you your jacket?" She asked him. He turned and smiled at her.
"I'll see you again, it's not easy to forget a pretty face."