Two Evils // Sweet Pea

Chapter Twenty

          Katherine Lodge sits comfortably at the dining table, a slice of toast and grapefruit placed in front of her. Despite the ongoings of the night before, the morning was relatively normal. Across from her, Veronica remains silent, lost in thought as she stirs her breakfast tea; clearly still shaken from the break in.

"Mom," Veronica leans forward, folding her arms, "I've decided something."
Kat momentarily looks up from her grapefruit, recognising the serious tone in her sister's voice.
"I'm happy to do the family's bidding at school," She sighs, "But Archie... Archie is off the table. Completely."
Hermione carefully places her phone on the dining table, "Are you losing your nerve?"
"No," Ronnie shakes her head, "Not even close. But, I am afraid of losing Archie. He's become a pawn on our chessboard, and it's hurting our relationship."
"Veronica," Hermione speaks with a soft, serious voice, "In this business of ours, the women always walk the razors edge."
Kat sips at her breakfast tea, uninterested in her mother's brainwashing propaganda.
"The men are the gangsters, but us — the molls," Hermione continues, "We use our wiles, our cunning. A hand on an elbow, a whisper in an ear, to manage things behind the scenes."
"Maybe," Veronica's tone is harsh, "But not me, not with Archie."
"Mom, this may be the life you personally chose," Kat finally interjects, "But, you can't just force your ideals onto your children."
"You are right," Hermione raises a brow, "And your sister is right to protect her relationship with Archie."
Katherine quietly sips at her tea. Veronica was right, Archie had become just another pawn on their chessboard, for both her father and Kat. She'd completely disregarded the danger she'd put Archie through by using him to get a message to Jug. Kat leans back in her chair. She wouldn't do it again, for her sister's sake.

          The sound of Hermione Lodge's palm slamming against the kitchen top shakes Katherine from her own thoughts. Across the room, her mother mutters profanities as she stares at her phone. She takes a deep breath, presumably plucking up the courage to call Hiram before doing so.

With in half an hour, Hiram Lodge pushes through the door. His face a mixture of concern and displeasure. He shrugs his sports jacket off, draping it over the breakfast bar stool.
"What's wrong?" He furrows his brow as Hermione and Veronica stand.
"We just got a call from our good friend, Warden Jeffries, at Shankshaw Prison," Hermione breaths, an irritated tone in her voice, "Jughead and FP Jones paid a visit to one of FP's cronies. A well informed, loose lipped crony."
"We think they know, Papá," Katherine anchors her hands on her waist, faking concern, "We think they know everything."
"Which means it's only a matter of time before Jughead aires our dirty laundry to every newspaper that will have him."
"Get Fred and Archie over here, now."

*

Katherine leans against the cluttered kitchen cabinets of Sweet Pea's trailer. With the confirmation of his discharge from hospital, Kat headed over straight away. So eager that she had arrived before him. Kat didn't mind, she needed to get out of the Pembroke.

She pushes the Andrew's Confrontation from her head. She'd never felt as uncomfortable as she did sat across from Archie Andrews, as her father explained his plan to turn Southside High into a 'For Profit, Private Prison'. At least that's what he'd described it as, but Kat knew there was something deeper. Even if she didn't know exactly what that was. Either way, Archie got what he wanted, or at least what he thought he wanted; Fred would no longer run for Mayor under the Lodge's control. But Archie has already sold his soul to the devil, and his name was Hiram Lodge. He'd freed his own father from Hiram's grasp, but he, himself, was still Hiram's toy, and he had to know his place.

Loyalty, ironically, was pretty important to Kat's father, and Archie's decision to stand by the Lodges, even against his own father, would not go unnoticed. Not by her father, and not by his enemies. Kat assumed he'd use this to get out of the Lodge business, but evidently, she was wrong. She felt uneasy at the target she'd placed on her own back. Surely, no matter how deep Archie dug himself into the family business, he wouldn't betray their little secret. But, as she'd recently found, Archie was easily led. Far to easily led.

The groan of the trailer door switches Katherine's focus back to the present. She pushes herself from the counter and into the main area of the trailer, a bruised and wincing Pea shoving himself onto the sofa. Kat rolls her eyes watching him struggle with his bag, the cashmere blanket peaking out of the half-zipped opening.
"Give it here," She chuckles, taking the bag from his reluctant grasp.
"You didn't have to come," He tries and fails to hide his smile.
If Kat was ever asked to liken Sweet Pea to anything, it would be a Pit Bull; a bad reputation and intimidating stature on the outside — a soft, gentle giant in reality.
"I figured you'd want some company," Kat shakes her head, a sincere smile across her face. She gestures to the crumpled Pop's takeaway bag waiting on the dining table, "...and that you'd want something other than hospital food."
His whole face lit up at the words, and Kat didn't blame him. Hospital food was grim, even in the best hospitals imaginable.

Sweet Pea awkwardly pushes himself from his seat, trying to hide his wincing from Kat.
Of course, he's had to pretend he didn't feel pain, Kat rolls her eyes at the boy. Even now, he tried to keep up his intimidating, tough persona. But that ship had sailed, a long time ago.
He walks slowly towards the dining table, slumping down into the chair. Although the food was now microwaved and not as fresh, due to Sweet Pea taking far longer than Kat had anticipated, he had no problem scoffing it down in minutes.
Kat perches on the chair beside him, trying not to notice the state Bash had left him in. The deep cut on his cheek, just below his right eye, would surely leave a scar. Other than that, there shouldn't be any permanent damage. The busted lip and black eye would heal sooner than later, and so would the bruised ribs. The concussion was the main worry, and the main reason the doctors had kept him in the hospital.

Initially, he presented issues with his memory; post-traumatic amnesia, Fangs had referred to it as. For the first 24 hours, Sweet Pea was unable to recall the events leading up to his injury, or the immediate events following it. Fangs had witnessed part of the event, hearing shouting and loud bangs coming from Pea's trailer, moments later, Sebastian Castillo — along with two accomplices — stormed out of the trailer. Fangs found Sweet Pea unconscious and beaten on the floor, the door wide open. Kat didn't ask about the gory details, she didn't want to know anymore than she had to. The guilt still haunting her.

Kat sighs, trying to shake to image of Sweet Pea beaten into an unconscious state on the floor of this very trailer. She knew that Pea had been lucky. It wasn't the first time someone she'd been involved with had been injured in 'unfortunate circumstances'. Only she hadn't made the connection before.

Kat had all but repressed the memory of Benji, the boy she'd dated for a small amount of time back in New York. Benji Ward had tutored her in french, and after a few weeks, the two started to date; much to her father's dismay. After all, Benji didn't come from a well-off family, especially not an important one, he was a scholarship student; a mutt at a pedigree school, as her father had put it in an arrogant 'intervention'. A week or so later, Benji had been the victim of an unfortunate accident that resulted in him dropping out of Kat's school. Kat hadn't dated since.

"Do I have something on my face?" Sweet Pea nudges her. She turns red, not realising she'd been staring the entire time.
"No," Kat looks at the floor, "Other than the obvious."
Sweet Pea squeezes her hand, not satisfied with the answer, "Whats wrong?"
"I just..." She tries to find the words, "I know we agreed to drop it, but I can't. This," She gestures to his bruised face, "This would never have happened if we'd stayed away from each other. If I'd ignored you at the corner store. Or if I'd listen to you the day we met, if I'd kept my end of our bargain and never returned to the Whyte Wyrm."
"If you'd ignored me the day we met, I'm pretty sure I'd be worse for wear," He raises an eyebrow, "Or at least your friend would be."
Kat doesn't say anything.
She'd all but forgotten Pea's stand-off against Archie; the pure fear she'd felt, followed by the adrenaline. She'd like to say that things were normal before then, but things had never been normal. Even then, she'd recklessly and consistently put herself in dangerous situations; that was a by-product of Riverdale itself.
"Im scared, Pea," She sighs dropping her gaze to the floor, "Clearly, I've underestimated my father's power. You're far from the first person to get hurt because of me, and you won't be the last." Kat closes her eyes, she'd never be out of her father's grasp and she knew it, "I'm the heir to Lodge Industries; I'm expected to be and act a certain way. My father will do whatever it takes to stop me from fraternizing with those he deems unworthy."
"Kat," He squeezes her hand again, willing her to look at him. She sighs, reluctantly meeting his gaze. "This thing between us — whatever it is. I need you to know; I'm in," His tone is nonchalant, "I'm all in."
"Are you sure?"
"More than I've ever been."