Redemption [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 25

I shot up in the bed seeing six missed calls from Penny. I hit her name, swearing under my breath as, pulling my boots on while the phone rang. "I'm sorry, I know I'm late," I said in a rush when she picked up. "I'm on my way right now."

"Forget about that," she snapped. "We have much bigger issues to deal with right now."

"What's going on?" I asked, walking out to the empty living room.

"Your need to get tighter leash on your boy, Jones," she said coldly. "Go ask him what happened. And tell Verne to send someone to pick me up in Greendale, he's not answering my calls."

"Greendale? Why are–" the call cut off and I called Verne next, pulling on my jacket to go find Jones. "Do you have a fucking deathwish?" I asked as he picked up after the second ring. "Snake Charmer's been calling you."

"Shit, she has?" Verne asked, "Do you know what she wants? We're trying to have a party here."

"Forget the party, she needs someone to pick her up in Greendale," I snapped. "And next time she calls, you better answer even faster than you do my calls."

"Okay, okay. Relax. Where in Greendale is she?"

I sighed, tugging at my hair in frustration. "I don't know, she didn't give me details. Find out yourself and get back to me." I ended the call and stormed over to the Jones trailer.

"Babygirl, perfect timing," FP said, opening the door. "Jughead here was just about to tell me how he knew Penny wasn't there when I showed up at the warehouse tonight."

"Oh good," I said, glaring at Jughead. "Because that's exactly what I came over here for."

"You know about this?" FP asked cautiously.

I shook my head slowly. "Only a very small part of how it ended. Now I want to hear the rest."

"Well? Start talking, boy," FP demanded.

Jughead looked nervously between FP and I. "She's gone. I rallied the younger Serpents, we drove her out of Riverdale. And I got my pound of flesh in the process."

"What the hell, Jones? I've told you before you don't get to call the shots when it comes to my boys." I snapped at the same time FP spoke.

"Are you nuts? She will be back, and you better believe that," FP said.

"Now tell us what mess you've gotten us into this time," I demanded.

"She won't! I was very persuasive," Jughead protested, carefully evading my question. "And even if she does, we will take care of it. You and me, and the other Serpents. In unity, there's strength."

"Oh, God," FP mumbled, dropping onto the couch.

"That's the sixth law," Jughead continued, standing in front of FP. "While you were in jail, I recited that every day, I lived by that."

"Really, Jones?" I asked. "How exactly did you 'live by that'? By living in Sunnyside? By sitting with us at lunch? You always keep your distance though, with us but not."

I could tell Jughead was upset, close to losing his temper. "You want to take my jacket? You want to relegate me to Toys and Tots, fine. But I'm still a Serpent."

"Keep going like this and you'll be out of the fucking Serpents," I warned.

Jughead glared at me before turning back to FP. "Dad, this, this life that you want to protect me from, I'm proud of this. I'm proud of who I am. You can't take that away from me."

"You're right," FP said quietly. "Both of you. Jug, you broke up with Betty because she didn't want you protecting her from the dangers that come with being a Serpent, but that's all I'm trying to do with you. I decided not to retire, so it wouldn't be fair to force you out. But like Babygirl said, you're going to end up getting yourself kicked out if you keep acting this way."