"He has to know," Sweet Pea leaned his elbows on the long wood table, his chin resting on his clasped hands as he watched Jug intensely. Jughead sat at the head of their meeting table his knee pulled up and his arm draped lazily over it, the exhaustion in his body bordering on unbearable. One of the other younger serpents, Gears, sat opposite Sweetpea. He was 27 if jug was remembering correctly, but his small frame could make you believe otherwise, the square glasses he always had to wear didn't help him look his age either. Jughead eyed Gears expectantly.

"I got nothing Boss," The boy shrugged running his hand through his short brown hair. He normally had it buzzed short because he claimed long hair interfered with his gaming headset. Gears was in charge of surveillance and anything tech related, he had studied coding and was a master at building computers. Jug had gone to him first asking if he could look through the security footage for anything suspicious last night. Jug leaned forward slightly reaching his hand up and resting his chin on his fist.

"He can't know, it has to be a suspicion at most... unless of course we got a rat," Jug sighed looking carefully around the room. Fangs sat next to Sweet Pea, watching Jughead timidly, the boy had a tough past full of drug abuse, and a shit family, making Jughead have a soft spot for him. Fangs seemed to get himself into pretty bad situations but no matter how many times Jug should have probably told him to hit the road he never could, and Sweet Pea if anything was more protective over Fangs, their fathers had been in the serpents together leaving their sons to be like brother, so despite his age they tried to treat him like they would anyone else especially now that he was an adult, only a year older than Betty, barely an adult. At the thought of her he took a deep inhale closing his eyes wishing he could somehow know she was home safe. As if on queue, a knock sounded on the door as Joaquin slowly opened it and walked inside closing it softly behind him. They all watched him walk next to Gears and take a seat. Jug raised both his eyebrows, waiting not so patiently.

"She is home, safe and sound.." Joaquin started

"Thank you," Jug nodded at him pointedly. Joaquin gave him a half smile back his eyes dropping to the ground "What is it?" Jug tensed realizing his demeanor.

"We should talk after this… "Joaquin trailed off not meeting his eyes. Jug exhaled loudly pushing his foot off the seat of the chair and loudly scooting his chair forward.

"We can talk now," Jug words were clipped and he knew he was probably acting irrationally, but he couldn't think straight if something could possibly be wrong. He also wasn't a particularly emotional person, so he was sure if she had mentioned anything or asked joaquin to say something he could easily handle it in front of his crew, he wasn't concerned with his pride, and would rather get it over with.

"Well um, just there was a guy there," He answered clearly trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal "Like waiting for her... she is still with him Jones," Joaquin finished somewhat sadly.

"Archie, yeah I know," He shrugged. The name didn't incite as much rage as he originally anticipated, it still made him want to hit something but not as bad as it probably should have. He had expected that her Jock boyfriend would be there. He had no real idea how much Joaquin knew, or if he and the Keller boy really talked about this kind of thing but he was grateful to the prospect for trying to look out for him. "That's all?" Jug asked cracking his neck.

"Yeah I guess, I bought her breakfast too… Before you find that out from four eyes anyways," Joaquin shot Gears a look.

"Hey man, I don't have eyes everywhere," He shrugged but laughed, smirking and pushing his glasses up with his middle finger.

"Focus," Jug commanded sternly and they looked at him nodding like scolded children. "No one suspicious was on you guys?" He tilted his head directing his question at joaquin.

"No, not that I noticed, she saw some school friends I've seen before because of Kevin but nothing out of the ordinary and I paid in cash, no traces to her," Jug nodded at the boys words. He suddenly had the overwhelming urge to keep prying and ask what they had talked about, to ask what she had acted like, who they had seen, but he shook it off scolding himself mentally for being the exact opposite of the unemotional person he prided himself on being. He felt like a stupid obsessive schoolboy with a crush, shaking it off he focused back on the group in front of him.

"There is no way Castle knows anything for sure, the only people that even know are sitting right here. We knew he would eventually set his sights on us, Jason is from Riverdale... That's our charters territory, we just have to play this right," Jughead reached his hand into the pocket of his jacket that was hung over the chair finding his phone and opening it back up to the text he had yet to respond to, he knew he would have to respond soon if he didn't want to raise any suspicion.

"I don't know man...FP used to say the best way to win the game is not to play, especially when you didn't make the rules," Sweet pea gave Jug a sideways look as he spoke.

"Well I guess we gotta start making the rules," Jug said as he stood up, grabbing his 9mm off the top of the table where it had been laying and tucking it into the back of his jeans "Besides since when the fuck do we listen to FP," He rolled his eyes and started to walk towards the door.

"Wait so what is the plan?" Fangs asked standing too, Jug turned to them while all the other guys stood too.

"I'm gonna go, talk this shit down and get him off our back, Sp you with me?" He asked already knowing the answer.

"Always," Sweet pea nodded.

"Good, now everyone get the hell out of here, I need to fucking sleep," Jug ran his hand through his messy black hair, his eyes feeling impossibly heavy. He was used to not sleeping, late nights, one or two hours of shut eye between keeping watch, but this was different. His body wasn't tired, his soul was, maybe even though he was too tough to actually admit it he already missed her and his heart was exhausted from it. How did anyone do this, why did anyone do this. He walked out of the clubhouse door and started across the hall the the suite he called home. The rest of the guys filed out and started down the narrow staircase. Jughead opened the door to the study, his makeshift living room. The low coffee table was in the middle of the room surrounded by a big leather loveseat and two large chairs, Jug threw his jacket across one of the chairs and made his way to the small kitchenette to the right opening one of the cabinets and grabbing a cup filling it with water and chugging it before putting the empty cup down, and grabbing his gun from its secure spot laying it flat on the counter too. He pulled his long sleeve shirt over his head noting that it still faintly smelled like her skin and reminding himself not to wash it anytime soon he threw it on the chair over his jacket and started to walk across the room to his tiny bedroom all the way to the left. A light knock sounded on his door and he groaned, huffing out a loud frustrated breath.

"Come in," He called, the door opened and Joaquin stepped in looking almost scared. "Whats up?" Jug asked crossing his arms over his bare chest and leaning against the door jam to his bedroom. The boy walked in a little shutting the door behind him but stayed silent just watching Jughead timidly. "You just gonna enjoy the view?" he smirked cockily.

"No offense, you're not really my type," He glared, rolling his eyes. "Just wanted to finish talking… when I dropped Betty off…" He trailed off again looking away.

"Go on…"

"Just thought you should know, they seemed together, like really together. It's not my business, I know, but there was a kiss.. And i don't know, it just seemed like you should know," He looked as Jug sadly.

"Thank you," Jug started keeping his composure "But Betty is a big girl, she knows what she is doing," Joaquin just nodded and started for the door but turned his head one more time.

"I still like her Jug," He smiled more to himself. Jughead sighed, smiling too.

"Me too," he shook his head. Joaquin went to leave turning to his leader one more time, the door barely open.

"Also I guess the view doesn't suck," He raised his eyebrows jokingly.

"That's workplace harassment DeSantos," Jughead laughed playfully, rolling his eyes and turning around making his way into his bedroom and closing the door behind him. He knew he should shower, at least get undressed, maybe even find some release thinking about a pretty little blonde, but all he could manage was to kick off his boots and throw himself on the bed, he pulled his phone from his pocket rolling onto his back and began typing.

Will Be there as planned. Just me and Pearce.

Jug sent the text not even acknowledging the question about Betty. He put his phone on his nightstand and rolled onto his side, his brain unwelcomely flooded with thoughts of her, and his new knowledge that her and Archie had kissed. It shouldn't bother him, it was a kiss, why the fuck should he even care, he could do much worse, he had done much worse. He tried desperately to ignore the nagging feeling in his gut that felt oddly like insecurity, what if she had changed her mind, good, he told himself. It was good if she changed her mind, she should kiss that guy, she should stay with him, and she should stay far away from Jughead. He tossed himself to the other side restlessly, groaning at his discomfort. He sat up in his bed rubbing his hand down his face. He stood up walking to his dresser and pulling out a clean shirt, he gripped it in his hands realizing that he had no plan, he thought he was going to see her, but he knew better, he couldn't go to her house, and he shouldn't. His mind clearly wasn't working right now, he threw the shirt back in the drawer slamming it shut and making his way back to the bed, he tugged his jeans off, letting his head hit the pillow too hard and wrapping his thin blanket over his legs, he grabbed an extra pillow that was against the wall and squished it under his arm hugging it tightly to his chest, he forced his eyes shut and willed his mind to go blank. He thought of all the times he had drowned out his dads yelling or his moms screaming, or the bar fights from downstairs, he focused on his breathing, listening to the small desk fan he kept on. And before he could stop it she was there behind his eyelids, her tiny figure curled up and topless next to him as she lovingly held his face...

"I said I understand Jug, Not that I don't trust you,"

"And do you?"

"Yes, I still trust you."

"Betty… you can't."

"And yet here I am,"

"You don't want to be a part of this life,"

"I want to be a part of your life."

He moaned softly wishing so badly that she was truly in front of him, and before could think about it too much he fell into a sweat soaked sleep, filled with dreams of her.

A loud knock on his door jolted him awake and he sat up in a panicked daze, taking a deep breath, beads of sweat rolled down his temples.

"What?!" he croaked out his voice heavy with sleep. The door opened, and a petite figure walked though, he rubbed his eyes focusing on the girl, his nose scrunched up in annoyance.

"Jesus, you're still sleeping?" she quipped placing her hand on her hip eyeing him seductively but as she took in his appearance her head tilted to the side "What the fuck happened to you? You look like shit," She pursed her lips, her voice dripping with attitude.

"What do you want Effie..." He growled the irritation heavy in his still raspy voice, he stayed sitting in his bed, his blankets all disheveled but still covering him, he looked around at his pillows that were thrown around, he hadn't been aware how much he had moved around in his sleep.

"The boys were asking for you, I volunteered as tribute since I haven't seen you in awhile," She smiled sexily and made her way to his bed sitting on the edge. He mentally cursed himself for letting her become so comfortable with him. She reached up her slender fingers that were tipped with black pointed nails and pulled her dyed burgundy hair behind her small ear that was filled with piercings, the tattoos on her hands seemed to be staring back at Jughead as he studied her, she watched him clearly noticing his eyes on her, her brown eyes catching his and she held his gaze, but his mind was on a much different path as he looked at the girl he had been with too many times to count, she smiled timidly and he knew at one point he had found it cute. He really did used to be attracted to her, right? He shook his head not really remembering if that was true. It had to be, because he continuously saw her, but as he studied her features he couldn't seem to find one that he liked. She was a cute girl, he wouldn't deny her that, but she didn't spark anything in him. She turned to face him more and crawled on her hands and knees slowly to him.

"Yeah, I'm not in the mood," He looked away from her, still somehow feeling tired. She crawled her way until she was basically right over him, trying to look deeply at him when he finally turned his head and looked at her, she had her arms pushing together, trying to make her cleavage more noticable, but he kept his eyes trained on her face.

"I can change that," She cooed seductively, her nose almost touching his, she smirked before dipping her head, kissing his jaw lightly. "You taste salty," She whispered trying to keep her sexy demeanor going.

"Bad dreams…" He shrugged, realizing how badly he wanted to take a shower, but he was no longer sure if it was because of the sweat, or the snakeskin on top of him.

"I can help you forget them," She had lifted her head and her lips brushed against his as she spoke. He flinched, his first thought to pull away, but he froze, remembering what Joaquin had said, he wasn't sure if it was revenge or just his own sick way of protecting his pride, but he chose not to pull away. The girl pressed her lips to his seeming to sense his new approval and pushed him back with her hand on his shoulder, finding her way back on top of him and kissing him again, this time deepening it by opening her mouth, her lips confidently moved against his in a familiar way and he reached his hands up wrapping them around her, the blanket still between them. She went to move it and Jug realized he was taking it too far, he pushed her back looking into her eyes sharply.

"I said I'm not in the mood," His voice was cold and hard, he watched her visibly shiver and pull back clearly getting the hint. Her eyebrows pulled together somewhat angrily.

"Right, got it," she chirped, pretending to be unaffected, she scrambled off the bed and straightened her shirt, cocking her head sassily to the side "Well like I said the guys need you," She lifted her chin confidently and strutted out of the room slamming the door behind her.

"Shit... that's gonna be a problem" Jug muttered to himself out loud, staring up at the ceiling. He hadn't even let Effie cross his mind the past week or so, too much had been happening since the Jason stuff was going down, and now this little blonde detour that his life was on. He owed Effie nothing, they both knew that, she was by no means anything to him, she was just a snakeskin that he had inadvertently claimed, and it was rightfully so, he didn't have a girlfriend, or wife, like some of the club did, but he was their leader which did garner some spoken and some unspoken respect and he couldn't have the girl he was seeing be up for grabs for any of them, it was just the way it worked, and it ended up working well because as it turns out Jug had an issue with sharing anyways. He exhaled a deep breath sitting up again this time throwing the covers off himself and swinging his legs off the bed, standing and trying to will away the headache that was starting. He reached for his phone, lighting up the screen and checking the time. 8:30pm. He had slept through the whole day, his phone also showed that he had two missed calls from a number that he knew was his mom, but never saved as a contact for some reason, a text from Sweet Pea and Gears, and a snapchat from Joaquin. He stretched his arms over his head letting out a satisfied groan as his muscles tensed then relaxed. He made his way to the bathroom sliding his thumb across his phone as he walked and opening it and hitting his messages icon, pressing Sweet Pea's name first:

Your mom is freaking the fuck out dude, I'm headed to the tailer now. Call me asap.

He pressed the arrow at the top taking him back to his list of messages, choosing not to respond. His mom was probably just off on bender, and was panicking, Sweet Pea could easily handle it if he hadn't already judging by the fact that the message was sent at 5:30pm and his missed calls from his mom were from even earlier than that. He pressed his thumb on Gears name his interest already peaked from the few words he could see in the preview:

Hey Boss, did a little bit more digging and I may have something of interest.

His eyes narrowed as he finally looked at himself in the mirror, he would definitely not disagree with Effie, he looked pretty worse for the wear, his hair was sticking up in odd spots from where he had slept, and his eyes were bloodshot, but at least the darkness under his eyes wasn't as dark, or at least it was as light as it would ever be, he always kind of had shadows there, after so much exhaustion in his life they just sort of had become a part of his appearance. He reached into his shower turning the knob, letting the water run. Before he stepped in he remembered the other notification on his phone. Opening up his snapchat, the only form of any social media he had, he pressed the small box next to Joaquin's name, a video of Joaquin taking a selfie popped up the text on it only said safe & sound, and Jug quickly realized the intent because behind him Kevin sat in the background saying something inaudible to the girl next to him, Betty had her hair in a high ponytail and seemingly

no makeup. She threw her head back laughing honestly at Kevin and Jughead unwillingly smiled at the sound. "Hey!" Joaquin called getting their attention and they both looked over noticing he was filming, she gave the camera a huge cheesy grin, then scrambled closer to Joaquin her big green oversized hoodie dwarfing her frame "You better not send that to…" Joaquin laughed while she spoke and the video cut off her words. Jug couldn't stop the dumb smile on his face knowing she had been referring to him, he hit Joaquins name again opening a chat and moving his thumbs quickly across the keyboard:

Where are you guys?

He hit send and then leaned out of the bathroom door and tossed his phone on to his bed, he shut the door behind him not letting anymore cold air in and he stepped into the shower groaning when the hot water hit his sore muscles. He showered quickly, feeling oddly anxious to get back to his phone, he stepped out of the shower grabbing a towel that he assumed was probably clean enough and dried himself off the best he could, shaking his head and flinging water droplets everywhere like a dog, he stepped out of the bathroom and made his way to the dresser trying not to look at his phone as he got dressed pulling on a pair of black jeans, and black short sleeved T-shirt. He sat on the bed grabbing his phone finally, nothing new yet, he unlocked his screen checking snapchat the little blue box wasn't filled anymore, he growled in frustration, Joaquin still wasn't responding even though he had opened it. Jug stood going back to his dresser and grabbing two mismatched sock pulling them on and sitting back down, sliding on his old and worn Doc Martens, he grabbed his phone sliding it into his pocket and reached into his closet, pulling a grey and black flannel from a hanger and sliding his arms through it as he walked out of his room, he swiftly grabbed his jacket off the chair where he had left it and started to walk toward the hallway pausing for a minute and noticing the new cup on the counter, a dark red lipstick mark on the rim, Effie. He shook his head in annoyance, rolling his eyes as he made his way out of the room his, long legs taking him down the stair quickly. When he entered the bar area it was already littered with people playing pool and drinking. He made his way through acknowledging people as he went with slight nods, He walked through the open doorway behind the pool tables where their security room was, finding Gears sitting behind an elaborate computer set-up with his headset on, the boy looking up meeting his eyes and pulling the headphones down to his neck.

"Good morning sunshine," Gears laughed, Jug glared but it was innocent enough and sauntered to the other side of the screens leaning on the chair that Gears sat in and raised his eyebrows when he realized that one of the screens was definitely not showing a camera angle, but instead a round of Black ops.

"Hmm that's an interesting way of running security," He scolded.

"I'll have you know, I'm incredibly skilled at multitasking," Gears laughed somewhat nervously. Jughead kept an unamused look on his face. "But anyways… How was your nap?" Gears asked stretching his arms over his head before leaning back on to his computer desk.

"You said you found something," Jug ignored his question. Gears just nodded, opening a small window on the side of one of the screens and typing in few numbers in the playback search, he moved the mouse over one specific square zooming in.

"So I was thinking about it when you said for some reason the Betty girl was of interest, and I remember you had said they would have only seen her at that store, but Sweet pea had mentioned she had been here before… He gave me a date, but I looked everywhere and didn't see a blonde girl, all I found was this.." He said motioning to the screen, Jug watched the front of the Wyrm on the camera eventually seeing himself walk out the front door holding a girls hand, leading her outside, her short black hair reaching her shoulders. But just outside she turns her head, Gears paused the video zooming in more on her face more. "I assume that's the same girl," He finished looking up at Jughead.

"Yeah that's her, why?" Jug shrugged not finding the meaning behind this little trip down memory lane.

"Watch.." Gears zoomed out again letting it play, eventually Kevin walks out the door in a hurry walking swiftly out of the cameras view. Gears pointed to a corner of the screen where two well dressed men stood smoking a cigarette, talking to each other inconspicuously, but after about a minute they turn their heads the way Kevin had just gone, and look back at each other, one of them nodding then both walking the same direction and disappearing from the cameras scope. "I don't know if it's important but at this point anything is something right?" The boy shrugged.

"Can you run a facial recognition and see if they were ever recorded any other time?" Jug asked his anxiety spiking at the thought that they might have been following her this whole time.

"Already done, they've never been here before or after that," Gears pulled the video back to when they were still standing there and zoomed in on them. "I already pulled a screen grab of them and enhanced the quality, it's a pretty good image if I do say so myself," He smiled proudly.

"Good work Gears, can you send it to me?"

"You got it Boss, I'll flag them too so I'll get a ping if Sandy catches a similar feature match," Jug laughed slightly forgetting that he had named his computer after Sandy from Grease saying that she was a badass underneath all the shiny perfect parts.

"Thank you,"Jughead nodded, the uneasy feeling in his gut growing as he pulled out his phone, still nothing. He walked out of the room not saying anything else. He stepped into the bar seeing Sweet Pea by the entrance talking and laughing with a group of guys, he seemed to sense Jughead watching and looked up nodding to him. He said something, waving slightly and breaking off from them walking to the bar top, Jug followed him, leaning on the wood next to him.

"Everything good?" Jug asked throwing his leather jacket on a stool next to them.

"Yeah, the storm has calmed down." Sweet Pea sighed exhaustedly, pulling the open beer bottle in his hand to his lips and taking a sip. "Did you talk to Gears?"

"Yeah I just did," Jug raked his hand through his hair "What are your thoughts?" He said eyeing his 2nd in command.

"We find them, and get our questions answered," Sweet Pea answered flatly, and Jug nodded.

"I'm starting to really not like this," Jughead half whispered, his vulnerable honesty making Sweet Pea search his face, his eyebrows pulled together in concern.

"We'll handle it, we always do," Sweet Pea tried to reassure him, putting his hand on Jughead's shoulder, squeezing slightly.

"How is Gladys?" Jug asked trying to pull his mind out of thinking the worst. Sweet Pea released his shoulder and took another swig of his beer.

"Fine, for now…." he gave Jug a pointed look. "But you should really go see her soon."

"I will," Jughead sighed feeling the weight of his responsibilities, slumping his shoulders slightly. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and grabbed it quickly, his brain forgetting everything else when he saw Joaquins name pop up, he opened it impossibly quickly.

We are headed to the drive in

He typed back quickly:

Is she still with you?

Jug was about to put his phone away when it already vibrated

Yeah, just her.

He put his phone away not responding, but was grateful that Joaquin was smart enough to answer the questions that Jughead didn't even need to ask.

"Whats up?" Sweet Pea asked nodding to his phone in his pocket.

"You up for a movie?"