A/n: Sorry for the small update! there was a perspective change that I didn't want to put in the same chapter which means the next chapter will be extra long or I might break it up into two chapter (Let me know which one you guys want!), I'll probably post it tomorrow or the next day, I'm excited for you guys to read it!
"How much did you see?" His voice was cold but his eyes seemed far too worried for Betty to believe the edge.
"I, umm…" She gulped. "I don't know," She answered honestly. Jughead kept his stare cold, watching her and stepping closer towering over her. She hated the fear that sent a shiver down her spine, she was finally feeling closer to him but right now he looked like a stranger as he averted his gaze and stared out into the night, she couldn't read his face at all.
"It's my fault, I should have realized you'd come outside," He sighed frustratedly. Betty stared at him her mind still reeling from what she had seen, it was definitely some kind of transaction. Jughead seemed to break his hard demeanor and shook his head. "Go ahead, ask me what you want to," He looked at her meaningfully, and she froze watching him step back slightly as he pulled out another cigarette lighting it quickly.
"What was in the crate?" She asked quietly.
"Firearms," He answered flatly, taking a long drag. She felt her knees want to buckle, feeling slightly light headed.
"That whole crate was full of guns?" She asked her eyes wide. Remembering the sheer size of it and wondering how much it could possibly hold.
"Yes," he took another drag. Not giving her any other information, but at least answering her questions.
"Guns like yours tonight?" She asked eyeing him carefully. He closed his eyes hesitating.
"No," He looked at her a tired look in his eyes. Her eyebrow knitted together, having a hard time believing this was all real, feeling like she was in some kind of crime movie.
"What kind of guns, Jug?" She asked shaking, partially from the cold and partially from the fear.
"That order was AK-47's and M249 Saw's, maybe a few M4's," He looked at her shrugging as if what he said was normal. She knew nothing of what he just said except that all of them sounded like exceptionally larger guns. She was having trouble taking breaths in as she started hyperventilating.
"is ..is that what you do?" She squeaked out, he took a long drag and looked down at her.
"Yes Betty, we are arms dealers," He answered, his face somewhat sad, but still bordering on cold and matter of fact. He tossed his cigarette to the ground stepping on it with the toe of his boot. She wrapped her arms around herself, having no idea how to feel, she had originally thought they were drug dealers and now she wasn't sure which one she preferred. Knowing this made it feel different, made her feel different, and she wasn't sure yet if it changed the way she felt about him. "Are you afraid?" He asked searching her face.
"Yes, " She nodded honestly without hesitation.
"Of me?" He asked his gaze sharpening as he focused on her eyes, before making his way down noting her posture. This time she did hesitate, contemplating her answer.
"I… I don't know," She looked away from him, he took a step getting close to her again and gently lifted his finger under her chin and lifting up her face to look at him.
"Do you want me to take you home?" He said, a deep sense of understanding on his face. As soon as the question left his lips she already knew the answer but she waited feeling angry at herself, and already knowing the stupidity in her choice, she knew her answer, but she couldn't say it out loud. "Betty…" He pushed growing impatient.
"No," She blushed trying to pull her face from him, but her reached up his other hand holding either side of her face making her look at him.
"Are you sure?" He asked pointedly, all she could do was nod, staring into his eyes and willing herself to see her version of him, the one that she was falling for so hard it was borderline painful.
"The Yakuza…. Like as in the Japanese mafia?" She finally blurted out, his eyes widened a little obviously surprised that she knew that, he nodded. "Who else…. What other gangs…." She trailed off scrunching her nose feeling frustrated that she didn't know what to call them, or how to phrase is. He smiled at her watching her, amusement on his face, which only made her more frustrated.
"We deal with a lot of them Betts, it's probably best you don't know," He lovingly rubbed him thumb on her cheek.
"I want to know," She answered sternly feeling like she was this far in, she might as well find out the rest.
"Okay, umm," He looked away thoughtfully "last week we had a deal with the Westies and the Russians," he rambled off.
"The Westies?" She asked having never hear that name before"Eh, it's a quicker name for the Irish mob in Hell's Kitchen," He shrugged.
"So giant mafia's," She raised her eyebrows still in disbelief "What's next, drug cartels?" He looked away at her words chewing on his bottom lip. "Seriously?" She took an involuntary step backwards.
"We deal with a lot of different crews Betty, some big and some small," He explained as if this should be obvious.
"How…. Why… this is like a movie, this stuff doesn't really happen" She put her face in her hands shaking it, and feeling so exhausted, but the adrenaline in her was still pumping through her veins.
"The how isn't important, as for the why….it's just the life I was born into, i don't know, it's my normal," He watched her shiver again and reached out for her hand "C'mon let's go back inside," He tried.
"Are you guys drug dealers?" She asked not ready to give up this moment of him actually telling the truth.
"No, we don't get into the drug trade," He shook his head.
"What did the logo on the crate say?" She eyed him feeling like maybe it was a dumb question, but it was stuck in her head. He tilted his head, an impressed smile on his face.
"It's 'Venom Whiskey' from our distillery down stairs," He smiled mischievously, he pulled her hand forcing her to follow him, opening the big metal door and let her walk through, once they were in the dark hallway he pulled her close to him, his dark green eyes holding hers. "I'm trusting you with all of this, okay Nancy Drew?" he smiled, and she nodded, for some reason agreeing. She wouldn't ever do anything that could possibly hurt him, she already knew that with every bone in her body, and even though she knew this should change everything, it didn't. She shook her head feeling so frustrated with herself, but he had shared all of that with her and something in her gut told her that was special, that he didn't do this, he didn't share his life unless completely necessary, and maybe he had been slightly cornered by what she had already seen, but he could have lied and he didn't.
"I understand," She answered, lifting her thumb nail between her teeth and chewing.
"Do you wanna go back to the bar?" He asked, not acting any different, it made sense because their whole conversation had been stuff he had already known but for her it was all stuff she was still struggling to process and right then she honestly didn't want to go back into a loud bar, surrounded by more serpents and blasting music, but she knew Kevin would be waiting for her and she had to muscle through, this was the life that she had asked to be a part of and it wasn't lost on her that he had tried to warn her, everything she had learned felt like so much and yet somehow she knew it was just the tip of the iceberg.
"Not really," She finally answered "But let's go," She tried to plaster a smile on her lips as she straightened her back lifting her chin and convincing herself to shake it off.
"You're sounding like a charmer…" He raised his eyebrows smirking at her new demeanor.
"A what?" She looked at him confused, his words not making sense to her.
"A Charmer, it's what we call our old ladies," He smiled.
"Old lady… like grandma's?" She scrunched up her nose feeling slightly offended.
"No," He let out an honest laugh and the sound of it made her heart thumb loudly wanting to hear more of it, "Old lady… it's Biker for wife," He smiled a devastatingly charming smile that only pulled up on one side of his lips, she blushed his words hitting her and that smile making her have to close her eyes making her wonder what someone as dangerously handsome as him was doing with her, she was suddenly hyper aware that she had almost no makeup on, and a huge oversized hoodie, her skinny jeans tucked into tan Uggs, her appearance bordering on bumish. She had never been necessarily insecure, she always thought she was at least cute, but right then she felt like a sack of potatoes, especially as her mind flashed back to Effie, the girl who had been a stone cold fox, a fully made up like a pin-up girl. He took her hand and walked her back into the main area of the bar, Kevin was standing at the pool table, Joaquin flirtatiously behind him showing him how to hold hold the pool stick, leaning over the table. The music overhead had shifted from rap music to country, but a kind of country that Betty wasn't used to. She normally hated country music but these songs sounded more alternative, not bothering her as much, it seemed like it fit well in the atmosphere of the dive bar, they made their way back to the table against the wall of the pool area. Jughead grabbed his drink, downing it quickly, Betty stepped over to him, feeling so lost, but needing to be close to him, at that moment what she felt for him was the only thing that was making sense. An impossibly sad song started playing, the twang of the guitar echoing through the bar, Jughead rolled his eyes, listening too, and turned his head looking into an open room in the back, a boy with thick square glasses sat in there and shrugged laughing at Jughead' glare.
"Who the hell let Gears play DJ?!" He yelled to Joaquin, who just hooked his thumb over to the bar where Toni was also glaring over at Gears, Whiskey Lullaby played its way all the way through, changing everyone's mood. "Hey G, can you possibly play something that doesn't make people cry?" He yelled to who Betty could only assume was Gears.
"Alright Boss, This one's for you!" The boy yelled back shooting his fingers at Jughead like the Fonz. The slow country song started playing a slight blues feel to it, Betty couldn't help but like it, Jughead smiled at her and grabbed her hand.
...I used to spend my nights out in a barroom
Liquor was the only love I've known….
"Dance with me," He pulled her into an open spot on the floor, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her impossibly close to him.
...But you rescued me from reachin' for the bottom
And brought me back from being too far gone...
"You dance?" She laughed feeling him easily sway her back and forth, holding one of her hands in his and nudging her other hand up on to his shoulder. He effortlessly pulled her back with his hand spinning her and pulling her back to him.
...You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You're as sweet as strawberry wine…
"I'm full of surprises," He smiled pulling his head down and burying it in her hair inhaling deeply, she let him lead her, having no idea how to dance herself but feeling so attracted to him as he confidently swayed with music.
….You're as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time…
"So you like country?" she asked, looking up at him as they moved.
"Not really, but Gears does… I heard this song a few nights ago and might have mentioned I actually liked it," he looked down at her so much affection in his eyes, she focused on the lyrics really hearing them and somehow falling for him even further, she rested her head on his chest leaning her face to the side, she happened to catch the girl from earlier staring at them from a bar stool and scowling, and she hated herself for letting it feel good. They danced for the rest of the song, Jughead spun her one last time as it ended, and pulled her back to him grabbing her face gently and leaning down to kiss her, she let him, feeling so high on emotion that she couldn't even describe it. He pulled back staring at her and leaned down kissing her gently again, and again, she smiled into his lips, the fear she had earlier completely melting away.
"Lets go," He whispered to her "I'm ready to have you all to myself," He nuzzled into her hair again.
"Where are we going?" she asked in a daze.
"My place," He smiled grabbing her hand, she just nodded and let him start leading her away, blushing slightly as she looked around noticing how many people were staring at them, she glanced at Kevin, who was also watching and shrugged. Jughead walked her back down the back hallway pulling out a key from his jacket and unlocking the door she had tried to open earlier, it lead to a stairwell that had both stairs leading down, and a flight leading up, he closed the door behind them, not locking it this time, and gesturing for her to go up the stairs, she started walking up them timidly not sure what she would find when she got to the top, they entered another hallway to her left she saw an open room, the walls covered in bookshelves and a long wooden table in the middle of the room, Jughead reached around her opening the door to her right and letting her inside, she stepped into the room looking around, there was a low coffee table surrounded by chairs in the middle, a desk with an old typewriter and vintage green lamp on it pushed against the far wall under the window. All the way to the left was an open door and she could see a bed, and to the right was an attached kitchen.
"Home, sweet home," He grinned pulling her into a hug and immediately kissing her, holding her against him, His kiss went from sweet to passionate so quickly her mind couldn't keep up, he tangled his hand into her hair, opening his mouth against hers, he groaned into her lips as he lifted her hips forcing her her legs to wrap around him, his tongue entered the kiss as he walked her backwards setting her on the kitchen counter. He broke this kiss, his eyes dark and needy as he grabbed her hoodie in a hurry and pulled it over her head in one swift motion, she shivered at the loss of the fabric having nothing under except a nude pink bra, he looked down at her body the hunger in his eyes growing.