Author's Note : Sorry this took so long but I hope you enjoy this installment! A night of fun! I don't have a beta so I apologize for any errors. I'm only human but I do try!

Disclaimer : Don't own em. Like em a lot.

Chapter Ten Song Choice : "Blue Eyes Blind" by ZZ Ward

Chapter Ten :

Long graceful fingers; midnight dark strands of hair that fell into green eyes, serpent eyes. Soft lips that were contrasted with sharp teeth. The all-encompassing, overwhelming pleasure that he had managed to bring with the slightest touch. Even sitting in a booth at Pop's, Betty's heart raced at the memories. Her face flushed and her skin heated and she leaned forward in her seat to take a long drink of her strawberry milkshake in attempt to cool herself down.

"Are you okay, B?" Veronica asked from her position at Betty's side.

"What?" Betty asked a little too quickly, a little too guilty, "Yes! Fine! Of course!"

Cheryl, who sat across from her with her arms crossed beneath her chest, arched a single, perfect red eyebrow at her and pressed her red painted lips into a tight line before she said, "Can I just point something out?"

"I wish you wouldn't," Betty responded.

"It is once again Friday night," Cheryl went on as though Betty hadn't spoken, "and you are off work and once again sitting here with us while your troglodyte boyfriend is out with the other hulking cavemen doing God knows what or where instead of spending his time with his smokeshow of a girlfriend as he should be doing."

"Cher," Veronica chided.

"It's not like I'm telling her something she doesn't already know!"

"No! It's just that you seem to relish in taking every opportunity you can to-"

"She's right," Betty interrupted so softly that the other two girls almost didn't hear her. Almost.

"Wait? What?" Veronica asked as her head snapped in Betty's direction.

"Yeah, what? Cheryl repeated the question in equal surprise.

"I said you're right, Cher. Just last week, Archie bit my head off because I had to work when he wanted to hang out. Now, I have the night off but he's too busy because he made plans with the boys. It's-"

"Insulting," Cheryl snapped, not even trying to hide how into Betty's rant she was.

"Hypocritical," Veronica tacked on for good measure.

"Yes," Betty nodded with a smile, "on both counts. I'm sorry it took me so long but…Archie is kind of a dick!"

Veronica blinked in surprise, her plum colored lips formed a perfect little "O" of shock. Cheryl sat back in her seat with an audible gasp, one red-nailed hand fluttered to her chest as though to still her heart.

Betty had to bite back a smile at that. Cheryl was not one to ever let herself be caught off-guard. The sight of it was somewhat amusing. It amused Betty, truly, but is also disheartened her just the smallest bit when she realized that her friends had grown so accustomed to her stalwart defense of Archie's deplorable treatment of her, that a response to that treatment that wasn't acquiescence was enough to throw the usually unflappable Cheryl Blossom completely off kilter.

She had, at some point in her life, become a doormat.

And her friends knew it.

She was humiliated.

But she tramped those feelings down deep into her stomach. Tonight, she would stop being a doormat and she would stop being embarrassed. And she knew just how to accomplish that.

Betty brought her palms down hard on the tabletop, "Let's go out! The three of us!"

"Ooh!" Cheryl exclaimed in unveiled glee as she rubbed her hands together, "I am so feeling this assertive Betty persona you have going! Where shall we go, my sweet and newly adventurous cousin?"

Neither of her friends had expected the answer that Betty delivered readily and without hesitation, "The Whyte Wyrm."

Silence. Three heartbeats. Two sets of eyes blinked blankly back at her.

Then…

"That Southside Serpent Slumlair? No," Cheryl hissed.

"But-"

Veronica held up a hand, "Does this have anything to do with a certain dark-haired, green-eyed, gang land heir apparent?"

Betty knew that she was blushing, but even that couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at even the idea of Jughead.

"Okay," Cheryl said with obvious reluctance, "I didn't think of him. But I still say no."

"We'd be perfectly safe there, you know," Betty said, "Jughead, he—he wouldn't let anything bad happen to us."

Cheryl started to open her mouth to protest again and because Betty was a master at understanding her friends, she could read their trepidation. She knew that to get her way, she'd have to pull out all of the stops. She'd need to use her big, game changing hail mary pass, the mother of all bargaining chips in her arsenal.

"I'll let the two of you pick out my outfit!"

Cheryl closed her mouth.

Both her and Veronica's eyes lit up brighter that Christmas lights in Times Square.

"In that case-"

"Wait!" Veronica snapped and cut Cheryl off as she turned those dark, shrewd eyes on Betty who spared a damning thought to Hiram Lodge for passing his keen ability to catch the fine print of anything on to his daughter, "Do we have complete control?"

Dammit.

Cheryl gave a little gasp as though she hadn't even considered that her sweet cousin would try to betray her in such a way.

Betty narrowed her gaze, "I get three vetos."

"One."

"Two."

"DEAL!" Both girls cried.

And that was how Betty found herself seated in the back of Veronica's towncar, clad in a black miniskirt that was shorter than anything in her own closet and a hot pink cropped sweater with little black hearts all over it. She thanked the stars that she had demanded her veto privilege because it had saved her from the red leather mini that Cheryl had tried to shove her into. It was belt. Not a skirt. No one would ever convince her otherwise.

Jughead grinned as he leaned back against the wall and watched as Sweet Pea popped off several rounds of the M-4 Colt in the makeshift gun range they had created in the basement of the Wyrm. A few doors down, a handful of serpents supervised by Toni and Fangs were cleaning and snapping like weapons together for repacking.

The gunfire in the long narrow room they had constructed for this specific purpose of testing stopped and Sweet Pea let out a loud WHOOP. He pulled out his earplugs, slid the safety glasses from his nose and pulled open the door.

"Man," he said, his smiled stretched from ear to ear, "This is the best part of this job!"

"How'd she do?" Jughead asked as he returned the smile to his friend and brother.

"This is damn fine machine," Sweet Pea replied and held the barrel up toward the ceiling so he could gaze almost lovingly at the rifle, "You wanna give her a go?"

"Nah," Jug said, "I'm good. I took a couple of test rounds this morning."

The door burst open without ceremony or even a knock and in a flash, Sweet Pea shouldered the rifle and aimed. Jughead too reached to the small of his back, his hand curled around the handle of the ever-present piece he holstered there.

A scrawny prospect, no more than fifteen years old, clad in a leather cut that swallowed his thin body, skittered to a halt in front of them. He held his hands up and his ears turned red even as the rest of his color drained from his face.

Sweet Pea immediately redirected the business end of the rifle down toward the ground. He let a shaking breath, then, once he was collected, glared at the kid, "What the actual fuck, Haggerty? Are you trying to get yourself shot in the fucking head?"

"I-I-I'm sorry, Pea!" the kid stuttered.

Jughead stepped into front of Sweet Pea and fixed the young man with a cold, green gaze, "Haggerty, was the red light on at the door?"

"Yes, sir."

"What does the red light mean?" Jughead asked like an impatient teacher.

"It…uh…it means…"

"Spit it out, Haggerty!"

"It means the range is hot."

"Exactly," Jughead spat, "so when the range is hot, you think maybe it isn't a good idea to come tearing in like a bat out of hell? Have some goddam self preservation, man!"

"I'm sorry, Jug. I'm so sorry. But…" his gaze darted away and then came back, "I have a message for you."

"Is this message so important that you couldn't wait for us to get done in here?"

"She asked for you, sir… and she's… I mean… I figured you'd wanna know she was here."

Jughead paused for a beat, but just a beat. "Who is she, Haggerty?"

"Blonde. Fucking gorgeous, sir. Legs for miles."

Jughead felt the smile cross his face. Without so much as another word, he tossed one grin to Sweet Pea and headed for the door.

For the life of her, Betty couldn't figure out why she was so nervous. Would Jughead be mad at her for just showing up like this? Archie never really liked it when she'd just show up to surprise him. He always said he preferred to have things planned out. Was Jughead like that, too? He didn't seem to be. He seemed more the spontaneous type, but she didn't really want to upset him.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Maybe this was a mistake.

Maybe she should grab V and Cher and make a break for it while they still had time.

"My, God, Betty Cooper," his deep, rasping voice purred by her ear as he slid his body close by her side to lean against the bar with her, "You're trying to kill me in that skirt, aren't you?"

She turned and blinked wide eyes up at him, struggled to find her breath, "Do you like it?"

"I like you," he said simply and his eyes traveled a slow, deliberate trail down the length of her body and back up again. A move that called to mind the first night they had met. He had never hidden his desire for her now that she thought about it. He'd always been very open with his attraction. She really didn't have anything to be nervous about in that regard. Not with him. Not ever.

Jughead's eyes traveled over her should to where she knew Veronica and Cheryl stood, "Good evening, ladies," he said on a smirk, "First round is on me, tonight."

"Royalty and a gentleman?" Veronica teased with a quirked half smile.

Cheryl leaned forward slightly, "Indeed, V. We might have to keep this one."

"He does seem to be quite charming," Veronica went on.

"Oh," Jughead said and lit up a cigarette, "You have no idea."

Betty didn't want to sit and trade quips with Jughead and her friends at that moment. That wasn't what she came to the Wyrm for. That wasn't why she let Veronica put her into the world's tiniest skirt, that wasn't why she wore her hair down. She slammed the Vodka and cranberry cocktail that she had ordered and hopped off of her barstool. She turned and slid her body between Jughead's spread thighs. He raised one beautiful dark eyebrow and God she loved it when he did that.

"I want to dance," she said.

"By all means," he replied and took a pull from his cigarette. His eyes danced as he watched her, delight and amusement painted every one of his features. He was enjoying her company. The confidence that flooded through her body at the knowledge, that certainty was better than any drink or drug that she could possibly imagine. Surely, there was no artificial substance on the planet that could match the high she felt when Jughead Jones looked at her like she was the only girl in the room.

"I want to dance with you," she specified.

"I don't really dance, princess."

Again, with the self-assurance that came with the knowledge that this man wanted her, Betty took his hand and tugged him off of the barstool, "You do tonight."

He didn't resist. He grinned, dropped his cigarette into an ashtray on the bartop, grabbed to neck of his beer bottle and let her lead him out to the dance floor where a handful of people were already grinding on each other.

Veronica and Cheryl both swiveled on their stools to keep the pair in their sights.

"Do you see what I was talking about?" Veronica asked.

"Holy crap, V," Cherly responded, "He looks at her like-"

"Like she's a gourmet buffet and someone just handed him a knife and bib."

"Yeah," Cheryl nodded, "only I don't think he needs a bib. He doesn't seem the type to mind getting a little dirty."

Their eyes stuck to Betty. They watched as she spun around, her eyes bright with laughter. She pulled Jughead to her and dipped down low, swaying her hips in time to the beat of the music. Jughead caught her by the waist and pulled her against him, her back tight to his chest. He leaned forward and said something against her ear that made Betty laugh.

Veronica zeroed in on Jughead's hands. One was locked securely around Betty's waist, the tips of his fingers dipped just beneath the band of her skirt. The other caressed up and down her side, squeezed every so often at her ribcage. He pressed his cheek against the length of Betty's neck like a needy cat. Betty didn't like public displays of affection. She didn't enjoy being touched and fondled in front of people. It made her self-conscious and uncomfortable. Veronica was readying herself to swoop in and save her from that awkwardness when Betty all of the sudden spun in Jughead's embrace, threw her arms around his neck and dragged her teeth against his throat before she nipped openly at the underside of his jaw.

"Holy shit," Veronica breathed.

"Do you see what I see?" Cheryl said, her own equal shock evident in her voice, "I've never seen Betty look this…carefree."

"She looks happy." Veronica stated.

And she did. For once, their blonde friends' shoulders weren't tight and against her ears from being so high-strung. Rather her limbs were loose and swaying, her smile was bright and open, her body language was relaxed and confident…like she was finally at peace with who she was, like she was comfortable in her own skin.

"She's gonna cheat on Archie," Cheryl, stated in her blunt fashion.

"Look at her Cher," Veronica said and pointed her finger, "she is cheating on Archie. And you know what? I'm for it."

Cheryl grinned like the Cheshire Cat she was at heart, "We're in agreement there. The serpent prince makes our sweet Betty smile like that, I say hashtag endgame."

"Shall we?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

And with that, two girls headed to the dance floor to join the pair.

Betty didn't know how much time had passed. She and Jughead were joined on the dance floor first by Veronica and Cheryl and then by Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni. No one really partnered off once they were all together. They just sort of… danced around each other. Sweet Pea pulled her into a dip at the same time Jughead twirled Veronica under his arm while Cheryl and Fangs hoisted Toni into the air. There was laughter and sweat and chaos and endless bottles of beer that was passed from person to person.

When Betty finally found herself back in Jughead's arms, she didn't care who was watching or who saw. All she cared about was the feeling a freedom and rebellion that he had instilled in her from the moment their eyes had met. She wanted to kiss him right there in the middle of the dance floor, in the midst of their collective friends, where anyone and everyone could see.

She was about to do just that when a loud crash rang out through the bar. Jughead's gaze snapped to the entrance behind her and the music was cut off with startling abruptness.

"Hey there, Jonesy!" a somewhat high pitched, gruff male voice called.

"Betty," Jughead murmured under his breath, "I need you to keep looking at me. Do not look over your shoulder, do you understand?"

Betty nodded.

"That goes for you two as well," he said to Veronica and Cheryl who had been ushered to his side by his crew, "stare at the back of the bar. Do not turn toward the entrance."

"Okay," Veronica said, and grabbed hold of Cheryl's hand. They both looked terrified.

"Fangs," Jughead continued, completely calm and accustomed to doling out orders on the fly, "Get Haggerty. I want him at my side five minutes ago."

In a snap, Fangs was gone.

"What!?" Called the voice, "No welcome? Not even a 'hi, how ya doing?' Your manners need work, Jones."

"Yours aren't exactly GQ material there, Malachi," Jughead answered back, his voice colder than Betty had ever heard it before, "I thought I told you to stay the fuck out of my bar."

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"I believe my exact words were, 'if you show you guyliner round here again, I'll carve your eyes out with paring knife and then break your legs."

Betty tensed at the violent words. Jughead didn't try to soothe her.

"Yeah, and I respect that, I really do. But that was before you and yours poached my business! Now, we need to have words. Now call these dogs off of me so we can talk like men."

Betty could only deduce that the interloper was being held at bay by some of Jughead's men. The thin kid that Betty had met when they'd first arrived at the bar was suddenly at Jughead's side.

"Haggerty, you take these three out the back of the bar and get them home. You do not speak to anyone. You do not look at anyone. You do not stop. You take them home, make sure they are safe and you come back and report directly to me. Understood?"

"Yes, boss," Haggerty said.

Jughead's hand tightened on Betty's hip before he said, "Haggerty, if anything happens to her, I will personally pull out all of your teeth and feed them to you."

"Yes, sir," the kid said.

"I'll text you later, okay?" he asked, and Betty's heart broke because he sounded so unsure. It was as though he thought this would destroy everything he had been working for with her.

Desperate to assure him, she reached down and squeezed his hand, "You'd better. Be safe, Juggie," she said.

Haggerty took her by the elbow and start to herd her, Cheryl and Veronica toward the back exit of the bar. They followed Jughead's instructions to the letter. They didn't stop for anyone and focused only on their objective. Even as the distance between them increased, Betty honed in on Jughead's voice as he began a running dialogue with the party crasher that had ruined the perfectly lovely night she had been sharing with him.

And then, as they reached the exit, Cheryl and Veronica disappeared through the doorway. But Betty, as though she weren't in control of her own body, looked over her shoulder.

And locked the heavily kohl-lined gaze of the man that could only be Malachi.

And his smile was wide and terrifying when he looked back at her.

Author's Note: And…uh-oh? I don't know what else to say to that!

Let me know what you think!