The two of us - Nichorello

14. London

<Nicky's POV>

"What do you want, little girl?" Her cocky voice made my blood boil. I inhaled deeply reminding myself why I was doing this.

"I'm here for business. Got a minute?"

She grinned intrigued and sent her girls away. If you ask me, she was behaving pathetic. However, I needed this deal for my plan to succeed.

"You need to get Suzanne under control." I stated seriously.

"Since when did you start telling me what to do," she scoffed.

"Since your minion started hurting Morello."

"So? Suzanne is a crazy girl with a lot of energy. Girl goes rogue now and then. End of the day, she does what I need her to do."

Of course, everything was Vee's fault. Ordering a mentally ill person to beat up an innocent girl, she was a psychopath. Luckily, I knew exactly how I could convince her to stop.

"Your cigarette business is a successful one. But you know what would bring even more money?"

For one second she shut up and began to listen, intrigued by my words.

"Drugs. You could sell heroin. Not the junk kind those methheads import, but the actual stuff that make you shoot up real nice."

"Nice talk little girl," she paused shortly: "But there's a reason we don't sell them. We got no access to drugs, you can't bring em into prison without your ass being busted and thrown into SHU. And even so, there is no-one willing to supply drugs, smuggling them into prison."

I grinned, knowing that I was the missing puzzle piece to that problem. "Let's say I was getting out in a couple of days. And that I've got connections, both inside and outside these prison walls. I get the drugs in, you sell them in here."

"How are you planning on doing that, cocky girl?"

Her knew nickname was worse than little girl, but to be honest she would be respecting me in a few minutes when she knew how serious I was about all of this.

"Let me worry about that. You just take the drugs from the spot I tell you to take them from and do so."

"Tell me more."

"So, I'll give you a phone, which you can hide wherever. Every few weeks I will write you, telling where the stuff will be hidden. You go to that spot, take the drugs and distribute them at your own price."

"I want 70%."

"Oh, Vee." I scoffed, "You can take 100."

Frowning at my statement she asked: "There's a catch."

"Of course there is. You're a smart business woman." Her facial expressions didn't change as I went on. "You leave Morello alone. And Red. And Vause. You leave everyone of my family in peace. All right? No punching, no beating up, no threats. Nothing. You live your life and they live theirs."

She frowned a second before smiling devilishly. Hesitating for a moment she nodded in agreement.

"If I hear that someone of them got hurt because of you. Even if its just a tiny scratch. The deal is off the table. You hear me?"

She nodded in defeat. Slowly we both got up, shook hands on our deal and went our separate ways.

-----------------------

"You won't believe what just happened!" Lorna explained a grin plastered on her face.

"What?" I asked excited.

"Vee just apologised for bumping into me. She accidentally ran into me and as an apology she gave me snickers bar from commissary. Those things are like 7 bucks." She opened her mouth in surprise and hugged me. Smiling at her joy, I loosened up a little. I have her a hug, signalising how relieved I was.

"That's great."

"I know. But I still can't believe you're getting out." At once, the atmosphere changed into sadness. It was ironic. I would finally get my freedom back and all I could think about was how I was going to be separated from Lorna.

"Don't be sad. You'll be out soon too," I tried to encourage her.

"In 8 months." She scoffed hopelessly.

"It'll go over faster than you think. And then you'll be back in the real world with Vinnie and you can live your fancy life again." I stared at the ground, knowing that once she would be out, we would go our separate ways again.

Maybe that was the reason I wanted to stay here. It was the only thing keeping Lorna and me together. This was my only chance of showing her how perfect we are for each other.

"What are you gonna do when you get out?"

"I was gonna go back to London, but I have some business to finish here."

"Wait, what? You live in London?"

"Yeah I do."

<flashback>

The office sign reads Nicky Nichols, making me smile. Who would have thought that I would ever have my own office with walls and a view of London. I walked to the huge windows and looked over the city, the Big Ben, London Eye, Tower Bridge.

My office was located on the 42nd floor of a newly built skyscraper. It wasn't the kind of rehabilitation center one has in mind when thinking of coming clean. Maybe that's what made this business so special and successful.

"Ms. Nichols?" My assistant, Monica, knocked on the door.

"Yes, please come in."

"Samuel called, he cancelled his appointment."

"You know that's the thing Monica." I walked towards her, tucking a strand of her black, sliky hair behind her ear. "The problem isn't the actual process of getting sober. It's finding the will power to do it." I kissed down her neck slowly, leaving a hickey on her soft spot. She moaned as I returned to her lips and shut the drapes with a remote, signalising what was about to happen.

Although I don't do drugs now, some things never change.

<flashback ends>

"You're not still dealing drugs, are you Nicky? Because, you can't be 23 and still be doing all this illegal shit."

"Calm down, Morello. I've been clean for two years. Actually I work at a rehab center and do prevention programs and stuff. God has a funny way of working, I guess."

She smiled at me, in awe: "Wow, who would have thought that you could get a real job."

"A lot changed after you left."

"For the good apparently." Her smile seemed forced as she stood up and left the room, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Wait, Lorna?" I cried out after her, but she didn't listen.

-------------------------

A soft sob emerges from the curled up ball in the top bunk on the right side. The blanket over her body moves as she inhales continuing to cry. Ms. Rosa and DeMarco shrug their shoulders, signalising me that they either don't care about her or don't know what to do. Who could blame them? This was prison. Nobody cared, everyone was used to new girls coming in, crying over the horrible circumstances they were now in. Since everyone had already noticed how close Lorna and I were, there was no point in hiding it anymore.

I knocked against the bed, trying to get Lorna to talk to me. Brown curls slowly inched out from underneath the thin blanket until a soft voice mumbled: "Who is there?"

"It's Nicky."

"Go away." She stubbornly replied, pulling the sheets over her head and turning away. My eyebrows rose in surprise as she replied harshly. I laid my hand on her body, trying to comfort her.

"Come on talk to me."