Authors Note: Howdy friends, long time no see, no? It's been a while since I've posted, but I've finally finished this first chapter which will be one of three, or possibly four, for this story. This is a sort of sequel piece to This Is What I Call Life, but the story is from Alex's POV and I plan for the story to go a bit further than where it ended from Piper's POV. Though, the last chapter might be done from both Piper's and Alex's point of view, since it will be all new material for this story and I want to write how both characters feel by the end of this. Thank you all for your patience, and I should have the next part of this up in a couple of weeks, once I get back from my trip to the Gold Coast. (Hopefully I can also write up a few chapters to my other stories too, since I now have a new computer and a little bit of extra time. We'll see how things go.)

The song that I'm usually for most of the chapters of this story is, Take Me To Church –Hozier. This song obviously does not belong to me, but it's a good song and I believe that it fits Alex's characters quite well for this fic.

Thanks and I hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you think, guys.

A Different Life, A Different World

My lover's got humour, she's the giggle at a funeral

Knows everybody's disapproval, I should have worshipped her sooner

If the heaven's ever did speak, she's the last true mouth piece

Every Sunday's getting more bleak, with fresh poison each week

We were born sick, you heard them say it

My church offers no absolutes, she tells me, 'worship in the bedroom'

The only heaven I'll be sent to, is when I'm alone with you

I was born sick, but I love it

Command me to be well, amen, amen, amen

Take Me To Church - Hozier

"There's a meeting at Litchfield tonight, and I need you to close some deals with a few new clients. Since Angus got bagged, our sales have dropped and Kubra isn't impressed."

"I'm meeting with ones of the kids at eight o'clock to discuss her last drop, but I can be there at ten. Are Red's guys still willing to do business?"

"Red tells me that they're more than eager to discuss things further," Fahri replies smoothly, though there is a hint of uncertainty in his tone that you pick up. "But the Russians... Kubra is not sure that we can trust them. If one of their guys were to get caught, he thinks that they'd sell us out without a second thought."

"Hm," you murmur in agreement, slightly distracted as you finish up your spread sheet. "Tricky."

"It's business," Fahri sighs. "I will see you tonight at ten, and don't forget our little meeting with Kubra next week in Berlin. His is looking forward to seeing you."

The line drops after those last few words, filling you with a sense of foreboding. Your work isn't exactly conventional and while Kubra can be quite pleasant, you would be an idiot not to fear him, at least a little bit. He is the man who could raise you higher than the stars if you worked hard enough and stayed loyal, but you could never quite forget the gun that he was constantly holding against your back, should you ever decide to stray.

You make a few more calls and organise a flight to Bali for one of your mules before you push yourself away from your computer with a relieved sigh. Your job could be glamourous, with the considerable amount of money you earn, not to mention the constant travel and high end hotels, but sometimes you wondered if it was worth all the paperwork that kept you glued to your computer for hours every day. Not to mention the stress, which followed you everywhere, from the moment you woke up in the morning, until you went to sleep, with even some appearances in your dreams.

These thoughts were dangerous, you knew, and you never lingered on them for long, which is why you were one of the best. You knew the risks, knew that your life could end at any moment, whether it be from a bullet or from a police car outside your door and a ten year or more sentence, but those thoughts only made you push yourself harder, and made you better. You didn't want to die and you didn't want to get caught, so you strived to be the best, to be so good that there was no chance of your boss suddenly deciding to dispose of you while you also left no paper trail in your wake.

You leave your apartment and take a cab to a bar on the other end of town, where you have organised a meeting with one of your mules. The girl was young, barely twenty two, with a carefree attitude that made her perfect for the job but also made her a liability. Ten grand had gone missing on her last drop, which had to be replaced from your own pay check and you wanted to smash the girl's head against the table when she laughed away your warnings. From the new track marks on her arms, badly hidden, you knew exactly where that money had gone and decided to drop the girl as a mule and use her for a client instead. She was from a rich family and without the treats you'd been feeding her, she'd be crawling back to you in a few days for a fix and she'd end up paying you back double what she owed you.

You leave the bar and the girl behind and walk a few blocks to the club where you are supposed to meet Fahri and his new clients. You know the place and more specifically, the woman who owns it, though you know her adopted daughter better, having dealt to her for years before she went clean. You haven't seen Nicky in a few months and you wonder if she'll be at Litchfield tonight, since you've been meaning to catch up with her for a while.

You never could have expected how your life would change as you entered the club and lost yourself in the thumping music.

/

Litchfield is extremely busy, as it always is every time you have been here. The music is thumping, your heart beating in sync as you climb the winding staircase up to the roof. You think about how much you would rather be at home, in bed with a book, as you reach the final step, adjusting your glasses as you search for your group. Fahri spots you before you see him, pushing through the crowd until he finally reaches your side, his dark eyes cool and calm as always. He gives you a polite smile, not the type of smile one would give to a friend, but a smile for a well enough liked colleague. There was no point making friends in this business; people disappeared all the time, never to be seen or spoken of again and friendships just made things messy.

"Vause," he says your name with his silky smooth voice, with that same polite smile pulling at his lips. "Good of you to finally arrive. Our friends have been waiting."

"Sorry," you apologize with much more remorse than you feel. "My conversation with Clarissa dragged on longer than expected."

"Mules." Fahri said the word with a slight tinge of disdain in his voice. "The girl is lucky that Kubra did not pay her a visit for her idiocy."

"I dropped her," you reply. "But she'll stay around as a customer."

"Good to hear." Fahri's attention was divided, you know by the small frown that is furrowing his normally smooth forehead. You follow his gaze and catch a glimpse of blonde hair and before you know it, Fahri is sliding past you with a soft, "excuse me, Vause."

You watch for a moment as he is swallowed in the crowd, heading towards the small bar on the other side of the room before shrugging your shoulders and making your way to the table where your new clients sit. They are a cheerful bunch, already half drunk and leering as you introduce yourself, and despite the fact you want to rip out half their tongues for the lusty comments you receive, you don't. This kind of clientele are the best kind, you know; the men who are inclined to drink and who would fall for any woman's charm.

Your charm, in particular.

And it doesn't take long at all before they're all eating right out of your hand, making deals and practically falling over each other to give you their cards. Fahri comes back as you're closing a business deal with an older man from Texas, but you barely acknowledge him or the girl he has brought with him. It's not until an hour later, when you're half-heartedly making conversation with an arms dealer from Indonesia, that you finally get a proper look at the blonde woman. She's having an animated discussion with Fahri and a few others about a short story by Virginia Woolf and you can't help but be entranced by the way her blue eyes light up as she speaks. She has long, wavy blonde hair, lightly tanned skin that covers an athletic body and a smile that could light up the darkest pit of Hell.

She looks familiar, but you can't place where you've seen her before

You watch her covertly and you know you're not the only one; more than half the men around you and a few of the women are absolutely besotted by the gorgeous blonde. There are people buying her drinks and asking her questions about her Smith college degree and the girl is lapping the attention up, like a puppy being petted after spending so much time getting kicked. It's not until you hear her name being spoken and then you understand why she's so familiar.

Piper Chapman.

Piper Chapman, Nicky's ex bed mate, in the flesh.

You've heard about her a thousand times over the years and you've seen her once or twice from across a crowded room, but you've never actually met her. Nicky was always somewhat secretive about Piper; you never heard any details outside of how hot she was or what an animal she could be in the bedroom.

And of course, she told you about Piper's job and exactly how much Nicky had to pay to get the girl into her bedroom.

You've met hookers before, but the low class kind; the ones who walked the streets in fishnet stockings and who begged you for a hit when you'd meet them in clubs. They never interested you before and you never found yourself even slightly curious about their lifestyle or career choice. You knew better than most what it was like to be broke and you never judged them for what they did, but the thought of selling your body for money had always made your skin crawl. It was not much better than rape, in your eyes, though you had met a few women and men who enjoyed their job immensely.

But this Piper girl was different, you could see that almost immediately. She wasn't low class, and she wasn't high class either, with the designer clothes and body guards, though several of the bouncers were watching her and the group discreetly. She was somewhere in the middle, with her gorgeous black dress that showed off her body and her carefully painted make up. You wouldn't be able to tell her profession at the first glance, or the second either for that matter, though her eyes gave away the fact that she didn't plan on going home alone. She was watching the men around her closely, sizing them up even as she continued on with the flowing conversation.

She was good, you knew just by looking at her, but you were more curious about how good.

You didn't even realize the train of your thoughts until you were excusing yourself and following the attractive blonde to the bathroom. You waited for her outside of her stall, leaning casually against a sink, looking calm and cool despite the fact that your head was a mess. You had no idea what you were doing or why you were doing it, but you were so damn curious, so damn intrigued by this mysterious woman for no reason and you wanted to find out why.

You watch silently as she opens the door to her stall and steps out, barely glancing at you as she turns on the tap, washing her hands in the sink that you're leaning against. You're so close to her that you can smell her, a mixture of heady perfume that makes your mouth water and the natural, clean scent of her skin.

"Hello," she greets you as she looks up at herself in the mirror, blinking her bright blue eyes that are lined perfectly with black eyeliner. "Alex, is it?"

"That's right," you reply softly, watching her closely as she avoids eye contact, drying her hands on a piece of paper towel. "And you're Piper. I've heard about you."

The sound of her name coming from your lips grabs her attention and she turns slightly to catch your gaze, her eyes widened slightly in surprise. It's only then that you realize how strange and slightly creepy you must sound, telling her that you've heard about her and you quickly explain yourself further. "I'm a friend of Nicky's. She talks about you all the time, said a lot of good things."

The blonde's expression immediately brightens at the sound of Nicky's name, as her lips part to reveal a bright, perfect white smile and her eyes shine fondly. The smile turns seductive after a moment and she looks up at you through dark eyelashes. "And bad things, I'm sure."

You don't expect her to be so bold and it surprises a laugh out of you, only causing your companion's smile to brighten even further. The woman is obviously attractive, but god, it doesn't take you long to notice how beautiful she is when she smiles and it only makes you want to make her smile more.

"Oh, yeah, Nicky can have quite a mouth on her sometimes."

"Don't I know it," The blonde practically purrs and the suggestive tone sends a shiver down your spine. Her blue eyes search your face briefly, trying to read your expression and then she smiles against, tilting her head to the side. "So, Alex, you know what I do for a living, what about you?"

You consider lying but Piper is probably even smarter than she seems and you know she would see right through your words, so you tell her the truth. "I work for an international drug cartel."

You expect at least a little bit of surprise, but if Piper is shocked at your words, she hides it very well. You can't help but tense slightly as her eyes study you; you know that telling people about your very illegal profession can be risky, but then again, Piper isn't exactly innocent herself.

"Sounds exciting," the blonde murmurs as she wipes her hands one last time with the towel before throwing it in the bin. "You get good benefits?"

"Medical and dental, no bodyguards though," you banter easily, your shoulders relaxing as Piper flashes you with that infectious smile. "Seems like you get a better deal than me, since half the bouncers in here are watching you like a hawk."

The fond look passes over her face once more as she replies. "They're good people and they keep me out of trouble. Your salary is probably triple mine though, you could always just buy a bouncer of your own."

"True." You reply with a smile, watching her as she watches you and suddenly, you feel the words coming out of your mouth before you can stop them. "How much do you charge a night?"

"Why?" She asks, with a mischievous smile that has your heart beating harder in your chest. Her bright blue eyes darken as she looks at you, making your knees feel weak. "Just curious or interested?"

You try to hide your emotions as best you can, but Piper can see right through you and before you know it, she's taking your hand and pulling you out the door. You're so focused on how soft her hand is that you barely notice the people crowding around you, barely notice that you've left the club until the cool night air is blowing against your flushed face. Piper is hailing a cab and she's totally in control of this situation and for once, you're okay with someone else being in control, because you're still trying to figure out what the hell you just got yourself into.

You slide into a waiting cab behind Piper and when the driver and Piper both look at you expectantly, you ramble off the address to the closest hotel. You glance at Piper out of the corner of your eye, since for some reason, you had expected to go back to the blonde's place, even though the idea seems stupid once you think about it. To be completely honest, you had kind of hoped to go back to Piper's, if only so you could get a look at where she lived, to shake off some of her mystery, but you had a feeling that Piper wasn't one of the girls you were going to figure out easily.

You both make easy conversation on the drive and it's a short ride, no where near as uncomfortable as you had expected. Piper had a way of making you feel comfortable, not to mention it was impossible to make the woman shy or awkward, even with the boldest of words.

When you entered the hotel and spoke with the lady at the desk, you immediately asked for the nicest room available. Why? You had no fucking idea why you were asking for the best room, paying so much money to impress a girl that honestly didn't really need impressing. She wasn't interested in a fancy room and she wasn't looking to be wooed, you knew, but you didn't want to make this experience feel cheap. Besides the fact you knew what you were doing was wrong for a hundred different reasons, you didn't want to make it worse by making this a bad experience for Piper. You wanted to show her a good time, to be kind to her, even if this was her job.

When you opened the door to the hotel room, you didn't know what the fuck to expect. Did you ask Piper if she wanted a drink, because god knew that you wanted one. Did you need to discuss how things were going to go? It didn't take long to realize that talking wasn't necessary, for the moment the door closed behind you, Piper was pulling you into a kiss.

And from that moment, you were lost, as you realized just how good this woman was.

Natural instincts kick in and you're kissing her back, your hands tangling in her golden blonde locks as she kissing you hotly, her tongue slipping expertly into your mouth. You push her back towards the king sized bed, lying her down before covering her body with your own and the moan that escapes from her lips almost throws you over the edge before you've even started. You kiss every piece of skin you can reach, moaning at the taste of her as her hands run up and down your back. You're breathing is ragged by the time she removes your shirt and you groan as you feel her lips press wet kisses against your collarbone.

"Fuck," you growl as you feel her fingernails glide over your abdomen, sending trails of fire over your skin. "You feel so good."

"I feel better in other places, darling," she whispers into your ear, her warm breath sending shivers up your spine as she pushes your hands beneath her dress. She presses your hand against her barely there underwear and your entire body shudders at the feel of the warm wetness against your fingers.

"Shit," you mutter, feeling almost out of control as you fumble to unzip her dress and pull it from her body. You bite your lip until you taste blood at the lean, tanned body that is revealed underneath, running your hands up the inside of her strong thighs until your thumbs are tracing over the wet silk that covers her pussy. You hook your fingers beneath the edge of her underwear before sliding them down her legs and then you're covering her body with your own, moaning at how good she feels underneath you, how you fit together so perfectly.

Almost like she was made for you.

You grind your thigh against her wetness and her hips rise to meet every thrust as she pulls your body closer, her fingernails digging into your shoulder blades as she moans softly in your ear. It's not long before her moans get louder and you can barely take it as you slip your hand between your sweaty bodies and run your fingertips along her dripping sex. Without a moment's hesitation, you push your fingers inside of her and her fingernails dig deeper into your back, drawing blood.

"Fuck, Alex," she whimpers into your ear, pressing her forehead against your temple as your bodies move in sync. "Shit, don't stop, please don't stop, baby."

You growl as you feel her hands run down your back, fingernails dragging along your sensitive skin until she's gripping your hips and pulling you down against her thigh. She moves your hips in time with your thrusts and there are colours dancing in your eyes as your feel a fire start burning in your belly. Sweat has your bangs sticking to your face as your bury it in her neck, crying out as you feel your body explode into a thousand pieces, hearing Piper's cry echo your own as her body shudders beneath you.

And then you're slowly falling back to earth, with her soft, husky voice whispering soothing words into your ear as her fingers caress your back. You feel her lips press softly against your temple, and you can't stop yourself from turning your head and catching her lips with your own in a long, slow kiss that restarts the fire in your stomach.

And then her hands are unbuttoning your jeans which are still plastered to your sweaty skin and you're smiling as you kiss her, until her hand slips between your legs and the night is not over yet.

/

You wake up slowly, stretching your long body and relishing in the way the cool sheets slide against your skin. You roll onto your side and reach for your companion, only to grasp cold sheets which sends your eyes flying wide open. The other side of the bed is empty; there's only some ruffled sheets and one golden hair on the pillowcase to prove that someone else had been there at all. It leaves you breathless for a moment, like a kick in the gut, and you're not sure why.

You know what last night was, but you still can't help but feel a little bit empty now that you lie here alone. You do this all the time, you remind yourself, these one night stands, but usually it's you that disappears in the morning without a trace. You feel a little bit used and you can't help but bark out a bitter laugh as you begin to understand a little bit of how Piper must feel every day.

It hits you then, just what you've done and what you were a part of last night and it almost makes you feel sick. It's not because you slept with a hooker, because you're all for new experiences and you try not to judge other peoples way of life, it's more because you paid another woman to use her body for your own pleasure. You feel dirty for using Piper as you did last night, just to satisfy your own desire and curiosity and you wish now that you had gotten her number so that you could talk to her and maybe apologize, which is so unlike you.

You wonder what she's doing now, as you push yourself out of bed and begin to gather your clothes from the floor. You wonder who she's with and how she feels and most of all, you wonder if you'll ever see her again. You bite your lip as you stand in the middle of the hotel room, fully clothed, with the scent of Piper still lingering in the air. You know you've got a flight to Berlin tonight and that you'll be gone for a week and a half, but you promise yourself to return to Litchfield when you get back, so that you can see Piper and apologize and maybe just talk this time around.

And even as you're thinking these thoughts, you know that you'd do last night all over again if you had the chance.