“Oh, that.” Nick shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Some fool was banging on my car and wanted me to get out and fight him. I didn’t touch the guy.”
“Did you try to run him over?”
Nick chuckled and shook his head. “The dude was standing in front of me. If I’d meant to hit him, I wouldn’t have missed.” He waved a hand in Riley’s direction. “She was with me. She can cobororate my story.” He paused, realizing he’d messed up the word. “Corrabate,” he tried again. He pointed to Riley. “She can say that I’m telling the truth.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Riley said. “I can corroborate and pronounce the word correctly.”
Lucas stared at her, which was uncalled for. Nickhadtold the truth.
Lucas turned his attention back to Nick. “How much did you drink at Legends?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nick replied. “Like I said, the car was in self-driving mode. I wasn’t even touching the steering wheel most of the time.”
“I can also corroborate that,” Riley said.
“You don’t need to,” Lucas said. “I saw through your back window that Nick wasn’t in his seat. The law states that if you’re behind the wheel of a moving vehicle, you’re driving it, no matter what mode it’s on. So I need your license and registration, and then you can step out of the car.”
Nick ran his hand through his hair and moaned. “Lucas, come on, bro. Don’t do this. You know me. I’m not a danger to anyone. Just let us go.”
Lucas tilted his chin down, and his blue eyes had a hard edge to them. “I’m getting tired of asking for your license and registration.”
Nick reached for his wallet. Instead of retrieving his license, he took out two fifty-dollar bills. “Hey, I know police work doesn’t pay that well. Is this enough for you to let us go?”
Wrong thing to say. Nick really should’ve known that. Lucas clenched his jaw. “That depends. Do you want to add bribing an officer to your charges? Otherwise, you have about three seconds to do as I asked.”
Nick swore, flipped open his glove box, and pulled out the car registration. He shoved it and his driver’s license in Lucas’s direction. “Dude, you’ve changed. You wouldn’t have done this to me back in high school.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Lucas said. “It would be illegal for a high school student to pull over cars. Step outside now.”
How long was this interaction going to last? Riley didn’t want to be here anymore, didn’t want to be part of this reality.
Nick swore some more, pushed open the door, and got out. She hated herself for comparing the two men at that moment. It was shallow, but how could she help it when they stood there glaring at each other? Lucas was taller, better-looking, and in better shape. And Lucas somehow even made his uniform seem hotter than Nick’s designer coat and shirt. Lucas’s police jacket stretched nicely across his broad shoulders.
Instead of looking expensive, Nick’s clothes just seemed pretentious now.
Lucas directed Nick to walk back to his squad car. She couldn’t hear what they said anymore and swiveled in her seat to see what they were doing.
Oh, Nick was getting the breathalyzer test. That probably wouldn’t turn out well.
Had she actually been in danger because Nick was tipsy in a self-driving car, or was Lucas just taking this opportunity to exert his power and make her life miserable? Self-drivingcars were made to take people safely home. Some cities had completely self-driving taxis.
Lucas cuffed Nick and put him in the back of his squad car.
So no, that breathalyzer test hadn’t gone well, although the cuffing seemed unnecessarily extreme.
Riley sank back into her seat. Well, this was what she got for going on a date to find someone who’d make Lucas feel outclassed. Lesson learned. Karma had a wicked sense of humor.
Lucas strolled back to the Tesla, this time going to Riley’s side with a grim, unhappy expression.
Yeah, well, she was also unhappy about how the night had turned out. Get in line, Officer. Get in line.
She rolled down her window and waited for the lecture, the judgment, and the smug look of superiority because Lucas had the power to haul off her dates. He had the power to make them look small.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and she was surprised by the concern in his voice, in his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Lucas clenched his jaw and looked into the distance for several moments.