Chapter 3

Tastes Like Vegemite

Alex was still shaking from her encounter with Aydin. She managed to finish sweeping up the floor and was waiting for the guard to come back. She replayed the conversation with Aydin over and over in her head. She was trying to formulate some kind of plan. What was she going to do? Was she really going to sell drugs for them? Kubra's capable of almost anything. He could still kill her, or he could be setting her up to take a bigger fall and get her sent to Max with additional years to her already lengthy sentence.

Selling drugs again also scared Alex for other reasons. She wanted to be a better person and didn't want to go back to doing illegal shit when she got out of prison. She had this vision of herself becoming a "normal" person like someone who works a 9 to 5 job and shops at farmer's markets on the weekends. Someone that was free from the worry and stress of being a drug importer. She knew if she started this up again, that she'd never be free of Kubra. However, she knew as much as she hated the thought of getting in this again, she knew she had to protect Piper. Piper, the love of her life. Piper, the one who left her when her mom died. Piper, the one who chose Larry over her. Piper, the one who got her thrown back into prison. Piper, the cheater.

A few nights ago after Red's dinner, Alex had stayed back to help Red clear away all of the dishes. Red pulled her aside and told her that she had heard about her calling it quits with "Blondie" and wanted to know if it was because Piper was fucking around with that Stella chick. Red explained how she caught the two of them kissing in their cube. Alex had suspected something was going on, but she wanted to believe it was part of her paranoia. Even when she had asked Piper straight up about it, she still had a feeling Piper was lying when she told her she had nothing to worry about. Red pretty much confirmed that.

"Piper, you fucking bitch," Alex muttered under her breath.

Alex pulled her mind away from those thoughts and back to reality. It seemed like the guard had been gone forever, so she hesitantly opened the greenhouse doors and peeked outside. She didn't see the guard or any prisoners. She thought that was strange so she stepped outside the greenhouse looking all around for Aydin to jump out and kill her at any moment, but he wasn't around either. No one was around. When she looked toward the fence, she noticed a huge section was missing and started to walk towards it.

"Alex!" Piper called out.

Alex turned to see Piper coming towards her with a look of confusion on her face.

"Piper, what the fuck…?"

"I don't know, I was inside and when I stepped out everyone was gone and the fence is wide open."

The alarms started to sound and they both assumed the position lying face down, facing each other. "Al, I need to talk to you."

"Not now, Piper. I have too much other shit going on right now to deal with your drama."

"Alex, please, just let me explain."

"What, explain what, Piper? How good that Justin Bieber-Aussie tastes? Let me guess, she tastes like Vegemite?"

"No, what? No—what are you talking about?"

"Don't try to deny it, Piper. I know you're fucking her and have been since before we broke up."

"That's not true. If you would just listen to me and give me an opportunity to explain."

"No, I'm done with your web of lies. You keep spinning them for the next sucker. I'm so over it, Piper."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't been so paranoid and so emotionally unavailable maybe I wouldn't have. I know I fucked up, I know that. I know that I'm a manipulative cunt who is slowly becoming my mother, but you played a part in this too, Alex. You were crazy… running around here thinking everyone was out to get you. Even me. You seriously thought I might be here to take you out. I mean, really, Alex, you were becoming this whiny, little, paranoid… bitch."

"And, once again, that wasn't hot for you, was it Piper? You know, I'm more than just this 'badass drug smuggling lesbian you fell in love with'. I'm not always strong, I have weaknesses. I testified against a West African drug lord in open court and it's not that far-fetched to think that he would do everything in his power to kill me for it. So fucking forgive me for being paranoid."

"I do forgive you, Alex. I told you that when you came to my bunk that morning."

"Yeah, and then you lied to me about having anything to worry about with Stella."

Piper thought back to that conversation that morning in her bunk. Alex had come to confess that she had beat up a crazy person because of her paranoia. She seemed so vulnerable at that moment and Piper remembered the twinge of guilt she felt about Stella, but she couldn't tell Alex. Alex needed her to tell her nothing was going on, and that's what she did. She lied.

"Well, now you really don't have anything to worry about because I got her sent to Max earlier today."

Alex scoffed, "I don't really care, Piper. I'm sure she fucked you over somehow and you did that as revenge. Part of your Panty Godfather plan, huh?"

"Fuck you, Alex."

"No, thanks."

Piper lay there, frustrated and couldn't get the right words to come out. "I'm sorry, Alex. I don't know what else to say except that I'm sorry. And I hope you can forgive me. Like I forgave you for being so unnecessarily paranoid."

Alex just lay there and fumed. She turned her head so she didn't have to look at Piper. Here Piper was accusing her of being a paranoid little bitch and she had just had a run in with Kubra's hitman not 30 minutes ago. She started to cry, although she made certain Piper didn't know she was crying.

"I came out here to show you something," Piper said quietly.

"You have nothing I want to see, Piper. Just leave me the fuck alone."

"Okay, fine," Piper choked out before her own tears started to spill down her face.

A/N – Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this quick little chapter. Please review, I appreciate the feedback and welcome any suggestions. Peace – J.