Second Chances [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 43

"Is that where you rushed off to last night?" Sweet Pea asked. "To get rid of the drugs hidden at the gym?"

Archie nodded from his seat next to Mad Dog across the booth from us. "Yeah, Mad Dog here called me, said the cops were clearing out Casa Grande, thought the El Royale might be next."

"Wait, why did you even have G in your locker to begin with?" I asked, feeling as if I'd missed part of the story.

"I gave it to him," Mad Dog confessed. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain more. "I saw Elio giving it to Ronson and what it did to him. Made him crazy strong. I looked into Randy's eyes and it wasn't Randy anymore. It was rage."

Sweet Pea shifted beside me, the muscles in his arm tensing around me. "If it did that to him, why'd you give it to Archie?"

"It does make sense," I said.

"Abigail," Sweet Pea groaned as the pair across from us gave me shocked looks.

"Why not?" I questioned. "It'd be a way to level the playing field."

"Yes! Someone gets it," Mad Dog exclaimed.

Veronica appeared beside the table, a mix of emotions on her face. "Guys, you've gotta see this," she said, pointing to the tv. We all looked up, seeing Elio Grande being interviewed by none other than Alice Cooper.

"...now that Rand Ronson's autopsy has revealed the truth," we heard Elio saying as Veronica turned the volume up.

"And what truth is that?" Alice asked, quickly returning the microphone to Elio.

Elio looked straight at the camera as he answered without hesitation. "That he was indeed taking performance enhancing drugs provided by his competitor, Archie Andrews."

"Alice Smith–" Veronica cut the tv off, turning to look down at Archie.

"This is nuts," Archie sighed. "Elio's the one who gave Randy drugs."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What, you expected him to come right out and admit to doping his prize fighter?"

"That may be impossible to prove," Veronica said soothingly, shooting a glare at me.

"He's setting me up to take the fall, Ronnie," Archie said, looking up at her. "Am I screwed?"

"With me in your corner? Never. I'm going to dog walk that lying cad," she laughed. But you do need to play defence."

"How do we do that?" Mad Dog asked.

Veronica grabbed two full cups of water off the counter, setting them in front of him and Archie. "First things first, drink up, boys." She waited for them to pick the glasses up before leaving with a satisfied smile.

"Did they not test you at the station?" Sweet Pea asked. "You had drugs on you when they picked you up."

The pair shook their heads, downing the water.

"Damn, FP's really letting things slide," I said. First he and Jughead picked up Kurtz and interrogated him without searching him, and now his officers took Archie and Mad Dog straight from the patrol car to a cell and set them free all without a piss test.

"When are you gonna bring that up to him?" Sweet Pea asked.

"Not anytime soon," I replied, laying my head on his shoulder. "He's still pissed about what he found out the other night and that's probably not the best conversation to have in the jail."

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head as Veronica placed two more glasses on the table. "Finish these off and get to El Royale. I've already called and arranged to have Dr Deetz meet you there."