"Yeah, everyone is whole… Ace got slashed pretty good, but we still aren't sure it wasn't Happy who did it," Sweet Pea laughed effortlessly. Jug cracked a smile, his lips weakly pulling up. His eyes wandered around the room checking everyone over for his own peace of mind, finally landing on Betty as she walked out of the kitchen handing him a coffee mug. He smiled at her appreciatively and took it from her, immediately taking a sip and closing his eyes the warm liquid giving him far too much joy.
"Baby, I got you some Vicodin," Gladys called from the kitchen and Jug shook his head before realizing she couldn't see him.
"No I'm good," He called, getting a glare from Betty that he chose to ignore, continuing to sip his coffee.
"At least take some Tylenol," Gladys tried.
"I said I'm good," Jug snapped, before reigning in his temper and trying to remind himself they were all just trying to help. "Thank you though," He breathed out leaning forward and placing the mug on the table before grabbing at one of the bags. He pulled out a burger, tearing into the paper and taking a large bite. Betty sank down to the floor next to his legs and pulled her knees to her chest leaning back against the worn leather of the armchair he was in.
"I'll move," He eyed her his mouth still full of food, and she shook her head.
"I'm fine," She smiled politely and he glared up at the boys who were taking up the whole couch.
"You're gonna make her sit on the floor?" He growled at them and they both stared wide eyed before scooting down and making room for her.
"Sorry," Sweet Pea muttered, looking away "We aren't used to having a lady around."
"I heard that," Gladys quipped from the Kitchen.
"You know what I meant," Sweet Pea shot her a sideways glance through the interior window. Betty crawled past his legs and made her way to the spot on the couch closest to him. They all sat in silence for a while eating their food, their eyes all periodically falling on him as if they were waiting for something, the air in the room filling with tension. Jug finished his second burger and reached into the bag to pull out a pouch of fries.
"So what the fuck was that even about?" Joaquin finally spoke breaking the silence, they all just shifted looking at each other, before all of their gazes landed back on Jughead and he froze with a fry half way to his mouth realizing that they were waiting for him to give them answers, ones he unfortunately had. He shoved the fry into his mouth leaning back into the chair and swallowing before clearing his throat.
"It was a warning," He looked at the kid pointedly. "He is trying to pull the ground out from under us. Break our demand and cut off our supply. He is trying to isolate us so we have no other options," Jughead sighed, tilting his head to the side tiredly as a messy black curl fell over his eye, he reached up his hand despite the protest in his muscles and pinched it between his fingers twirling it mindlessly as he leaned his elbow on the arm rest, wincing at the pressure on his shoulder, his mind pulling to Castle and his manipulative tactics.
"Why? Why not just kill us?" Joaquin eyed his leader carefully. His voice was full of frustration and exhaustion.
"He isn't trying to start a war. That Ball is in our court," Jughead sighed cryptically, letting the curl go and ignoring the ache as he ran his hand through his hair pushing it out of his face.
"Jones… Kevin was there," Joaquin said sharply, "We need to know what Castle wants," He said sternly and Jugs eyes snapped up glaring at the boy's tone. He held the glare, not breaking away until Joaquin finally looked to the ground in defeat.
"Betty was there too, Joaquin, I understand the urgency," Jug kept his eyes narrowed but his tone softened with more understanding as he spoke next, "We know what he wants," Jug glanced at Sweet Pea and looked back at Joaquin.
"And what is that?" Fangs chimed in, a paper cup in one hand as he nervously spun the straw with his other.
"He wants us to deal drugs… To replace Jason," Jughead finally answered, letting his body lean further into the chair and struggling to get comfortable with all his new injuries.
"Jason? That kid that died?" Fangs asked, his voice convincingly confused. Jug glanced at Betty from the corner of his eyes, her eyes staring at the floor and her posture rigid.
"You can cut the act, she knows," Jughead huffed out, chewing on his bottom lip, he knew he should feel bad, maybe even nervous but all he felt was tired.
"Knows what?" Fangs was carefully looking at Betty who glanced up quickly meeting his gaze shyly, before turning to Jughead her eyes wide.
"Everything… I told her everything," Jughead nodded, he felt everyone's stares but he kept his eyes on her, searching her face.
"You told her?" Sweet Pea's mouth had dropped open suspended in shock, but he closed it quickly. Jughead closed his eyes slowly not realizing he would have to face his crew about this, but he should have known better, they were eventually going to know that he practically told Betty everything even if he didn't want to. He couldn't risk losing her and they would just have to accept that she had become his charmer which meant she was as much of a part of this as any of them.
"I didn't have a choice," Jughead opened his eyes slowly to look at Joaquin "That kid from the party that drugged her, he told her about Jason working for Castle." He saw Betty shift in her seat in his peripheral vision, visibly uncomfortable so he looked at her and continued. "But I would have told her anyways," He admitted mainly to her, she blinked a few times meeting his eyes and holding his stare as a silent moment fell between them. His fingers itched to grab her hand but he refrained, instead giving her a tiny nod, his lips lifting into a defeated smile.