Ultraviolence

Friend of the cartel

•=

The courtroom is dead silent. You would be able to hear a pin drop if it weren't for the soft clinking of the metal chain attached to Lalo's handcuffs.
A cop is holding on to Lalo's arm like a lost child. He's supposed to be leading him to the stand, but it doesn't feel that way.

Lalo looks at Saul, who returns his gaze quickly, before standing up. He knows Saul is afraid of him. Not hard to notice. As soon as the door opened and he stepped into the room, Saul looked at him like a dog ready to be beaten.

It's not that Lalo minds it, but come on, when has he ever done anything bad? To Saul, he means. He's actually been pretty nice to him, no? Whatever. Guy's a wuss.
The cop lets go of his arm as Lalo shuffles behind the desk. Saul nervously, but confidently straightens his blazer.

"State versus Jorge de Guzman, case CR2004003022."
Lalo tenses his biceps, his hands crossed in front of his body.

"Mister de Guzman." The judge states.
Lalo tries not to look too unsympathetic. It's not a secret that he doesn't care about who he killed, or who's building he burnt down, or whatever traumas he's caused. That wouldn't be a good attitude in here, though, so he's willing to put on a little performance if he has to.

"Murder in the first degree, robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence, arson-" the judge is cut off.
"Your Honor, uh, my client waives the reading of the remaining charges." Saul says. He talks with a lot of hand gestures.

"How does he plead?"
Lalo slightly tilts his chin up.
"Not guilty. On all charges."
The judge raises his eyebrows. Yeah, yeah. Lalo knows it's a long shot, the whole not guilty thing. But he is not going to be locked up. Saul will yap his way out of this if it's the last thing he does.

"I'd like to schedule a pre-trial hearing in six weeks."
Six weeks? Dios mio.
"And I'm going to deny bond." Lalo shakes his head in frustration. There's no way in hell he's going to be caged like some sort of wild animal for six fucking weeks.
"Uh, Your Honor-" Saul tries to object, but fails.
"That's my decision."
The judge smacks his little hammer and with that, they're done.

Lalo turns his head to look at Saul, who's clearly frustrated as well. He doesn't look back at first, but he feels Lalo's eyes on him. Finally, he nervously turns to meet Lalo's stare. He hesitates, but doesn't say anything. Seems like he can't find the right words. He scoffs before turning his head back to the judge.

That little cockroach. What's he thinking, if he just doesn't look at him he'll let it go?
"We should probably talk business, hm?" Lalo says, bending over slightly. His voice is low and could be perceived as somewhat threatening. Doesn't have to be, if Saul's able to get him out of here.
"Yeah." The lawyer nods, his voice gravely.
"I'll arrange a meeting, see you in about an hour."

•~

Your absolute inability to get as little as a second of shuteye didn't come as a surprise to you. Last night was horrible.
You look in the mirror. The person looking back at you doesn't feel or look familiar. A pound of concealer couldn't hide these dark circles under your eyes and even if you'd smear red lipstick on your cheeks, your face would still look dull.

Lalo's in jail. You shouldn't be so surprised by this. He's a criminal. It's not like it's completely out of the blue and unexpected. Yet you still can't accept it. Just yesterday, you woke up in his bed after being all cuddled up with him for most of the night. Now you look like a corpse and he's in a cold jail cell. Like he's some monster. And the worst thing is, it could be your fault he's in there.