1 - Getaway Car (AM/TLSP)

Sending Messages

Lil was sitting on a chair, in front of the dressing table's mirror.
She was attempting to remove the last traces of her make up.

- Hey. - Miles voice called. It was low and hoarse. His head was hurting.
- Hey! How are you feeling?
- Hungover.
- Nothing else?

Miles looked around.
He was at the back room.
Did that mean...

- Wait! Did we sleep together?
- What!? No! - Lil got up.
- Then why am I 'ere?
- Because of this. - Lil pressed Miles' skin lightly, next to his wound. He winced.
- Shit.
- Nobody knows what happened, tho. You just came back bleeding and we did what we had to do since you guys can't just go to a hospital with an unexplained bullet wound.
- Otis... - Miles said.
- Who is that?
- Wait! You stitched me up! I remember now.
- Yes, I did.
- Sorry about that... How long have I been out?
- About six hours, I believe. The guys went home. Alex said he was gonna tell your mom you had to go to Tampa.
- Ok. It was wise of him.
- One of them will be back in a few hours, I'm gonna go to a hotel for a week or so... I didn't want to but you're gonna need to stay here and we don't have two rooms.
- Well, at least you're going to a place more comfortable than here.
- I don't really care. It's only been a week but I grew attached to these walls... this whole place was my safe place after everything that happened. After everything I did.
- You blame yourself for that?
- Shouldn't I? I'm free to go anywhere in the world but my soul will never be free, or my mind. The guilt is very heavy.

I understand how you feel. Miles wanted to tell her.

- It gets lighter with time. And no, you've done no wrong. If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed you and got away with it.
- Just like I did.
- You were the one being beat up, not him. He would just marry again and start all over.

Lil stayed silent.

- Sometimes the system fails us and we have to take matters into our own hands. There's no shame in that, just risk.
- How many men have you killed?
- More than you.
- May I ask you something?
- Go ahead.
- How did you get into this... business?

Miles sighed.

- Cheers to my Dad for that. He got me into shoplifting when I was 7. He gambled and wasted all of our money and in the end of the day we had no money to buy groceries. Sometimes he made me steal, sometimes he'd give me a shopping list, tell me to get into a store and pretend I was gonna buy stuff so he'd fake a robbery and take me as a "hostage". He'd point a gun to me head and everything, a real one. It wasn't loaded but still...
- I'm so sorry, Miles. This is awful.
- Then he died when I was 13 and I had to carry on. It was not 'till I was 16 that I got into real trouble. A robbery gone wrong, I killed a clerk. Me mum found out and sent me here before the cops could find me. It was days on a ship with barely anything to eat, days after I arrived that I slept on the streets. I had to steal again. And then when the police of New York was aware of me, I ran away to Los Angeles and then here.

Miles stopped talking.
He thought Lil had heard enough.
Both stayed silent.

- Miles? - Alex said, approaching the door.
- Yeah?
- I thought I heard your voice. How are you feeling?
- Hungover as fuck. - Miles looked at Lil and apologized for the saying a dirty word.
- The hell happened? - Alex asked.
- Otis happened.
- Again?
- He came here last night to call me out for beating the shit out of Tom. I suggested we stepped outside for a chat and we drove in his car to the lake. I told him that Tom had threatened us and all that shit and he told me he had not sent Tom to us and I said I didn't believe him. We started having an argument and I turned around to walk back here but I was shot. I don't know if it was him or his new assistant.
- New?
- Well, Tom's still at the hospital.
- They shot you in the back! Son of a bitch better come 'ere and explain himself or I'm gonna go after him meself.
- No, you are not. - Miles said to Alex. - I ain't worth it, Al. And you can't get killed, you have your wife and your son.
- You have your mum.
- I got her covered. I have lots of money that's gonna go to her if I end up dead, I ain't that dumb.
- Money is not gonna fix the hole losing you would cause on her. - Alex protested.
- It's still better than nothing. After all we went through, I want her to have the best life I can give her. What if yer son had to grow up without you 'cause you went to call some guy out on my behalf? No, thank you, Alex. Everyone will stay put.
- But they shot you in the back!