Say My Name

Chapter Eight

"I just need a few more days, but I'll get it to you. I promise."

Jughead scoffed. "No." His tone grew more aggressive, and he took a step closer to him. "I gave you two fucking weeks." His face inched closer and closer to Archie's, and this caused Archie to take a step back. "I warned you what would happen if you didn't give me my money on time."

Betty's ears shot up at his words. "You knew he would come after me?"

"Shut up," Jughead squawked, and she pulled her lips back between her teeth in response.

"You see what you did, Archibald?" He pointed his finger at Betty and kept his eyes on him. "Your little girlfriend here has to pay the price for your mistakes. How sad is that?"

"Say goodbye to your boyfriend of the year award." Jughead fake pouted. "Mm." He bit his lower lip and scrunched his nose. "There's always next year."

"Don't drag Betty into this. She has nothing to do with it!" Archie raised his voice, and she cringed at the high level.

"Archie..." She let out a breathless whisper and was startled by Jughead snapping his fingers at her. She broke away from her gaze at the two of them and bit her lip, pulling it back between her teeth.

"Then you should've picked a different girl to stick it to." He circled Archie, eyeing the boy carefully.

Archie was still wearing what he wore to the dance, but his jacket was missing. He looked like he had been manhandled by a few of the Serpents with a corner of his button-up shirt sticking out of his dress pants and his tie pulled down.

Jughead finally stopped right in front of him, giving Archie the most troublesome look. "Perhaps a girl who's more on your level of intelligence." He smirked, then brought his hand up to Archie's cheek and patted it twice.

Betty guessed he was either mocking his intelligence or hers, but it really didn't matter. She was a straight-A student and was told by many that she's street smart. She also reeked of good behavior and pristine characteristics, which were undoubtedly signs of your average bookworm.

Archie looked heated--his jaw flexed as he tried to hold back his words, but failed. "You're the one threatening a high school quarterback for money you know damn well they don't have. You're the real retard --"

In an instant, Jughead swung his clenched fist as hard as he could, striking Archie in the face, which caused him to fall face down on the concrete. The other two Serpents lunged for the bleeding boy on the ground, kicking him in his gut. Archie spat a string of dark blood from his mouth as he groaned from the outrageous pain hitting his abdomen. It was three against one, and by the way they were profusely beating him to his near blackout, Archie didn't have a fighting chance of survival.

Betty's breath hitched and she stared wide-eyed at the chaos in front of her. "Stop --" She croaked, then swallowed the harsh sound of her voice down her throat.

"STOP!" She roared, and the two guys came to pause and looked up at Jughead, who was standing there watching the show in front of him.

"Please..." Her voice was shaky, and the blood left her face. "Please don't."

Archie coughed up more blood as he squirmed on the ground. He tried to prop himself up, using both his hands, but one of the Serpents swung their leg and struck his stomach, causing him to fall limp on his side.

Jughead raised his hand out, giving the Serpents the stop signal and turned his head, meeting her desperate eyes.

"How will he get you the money if you kill him?" She swallowed again, feeling the knot in her throat swell up. "I'll --" She hesitated on what she was about to say next. "I'll make sure he gets it to you."

Jughead stared at her determinedly like he perceived the thoughts that flowed through her skull.

She softened her eyes at him, trying to form an invisible string of trust that streamed from her eyes to his. She tried her hardest not to look away, but it seemed to be complicated. She didn't understand how someone's eyes could be so light and inviting, yet so dark and repellent at the same time. A wave of desire strung through her veins when he broke the invisible string. She sat there, eyes fixed on the back of his head, and suddenly, every bone in her body ached for more.

"Two days." He looked down at Archie and knelt right next to his face. "You have two days to give me the $1500 you owe me..." He brought his face down to Archie's, settling his mouth right next to his ear. "...or I'll start taking heads." Archie coughed, then swallowed the remaining blood lingering in his mouth.

Jughead stood back up, then made his way over to Betty. He pulled a silver key out of his back pocket and knelt by the metal pole she was still attached to. He inserted it into the handcuffs, and she heard a sudden click. He grabbed her forearm, removing her wrist from the silver metal and noticed the red lines circling her wrist. He wrapped his thumb and index finger around the throbbing area and rubbed it to ease the sting. "You didn't have to yank at the cuffs so damn hard to prove a point." He let go of her wrist.

She brought her wrist to her chest and kneaded it. She hadn't realized the handcuffs were too tight. "I didn't do it on purpose. Guess my wrist got tired of feeling pain from the other time your goons tightened something around it too tight," She snapped. Startled by her own attitude, she bit her tongue back from saying anything else.

Jughead just scowled at her, a few seconds of silence washed over them before he put the key back in his pocket. "Go," he said with a grim voice.

She didn't hesitate to prop herself onto her feet--her legs shakey from sitting on the hard ground too long. She dived down to the wounded red-head right in front of her. "Archie." Her tone was filled with concern. She rolled him over onto his back, and he let out a soft rumble from his throat. "Fuck." His voice sounded harsh.

"Can you stand?" She slipped her hand underneath the back of his head, lifting it so the blood wouldn't suffocate him.

He nodded before slowly sitting up, and she grabbed his hand to help steady him.

Her attention shifted when she saw Jughead walking away in the corner of her eye.

"Betty." Archie grimaced, and her head quickly turned back to him. "Sorry." She pulled at his hand, trying to get him up. "Let's get you home."