2. Speeding Ticket

River Lockhart

I haven't had a police officer stop me like this before. So it annoys me a little, although he, in fact, is so hot. I click my tongue in annoyance but decide to speak first.

"Yeah?" I ask him with my eyes on the road ahead of me and my hands chillingly resting on the steering wheel.

"Yeah?? Speeding to one hundred and ten miles per hour, ignoring the police sirens, overtaking from the wrong side, crossing the double-white line. Hand over your driver's license," he says.

I scoff at his words, "Do you know who I am?" I finally look up at him. His forest green eyes are sharply trained on me with a sense of strictness. And I quickly look away from him.

I never thought police officers could be... young and handsome like this. The previous ones that I am familiar with are all old buggers who simply wave their hands and let me be on my way without interfering with my decisions.

"If you give me the driver's license, I will know," he says with a little frown.

"How can I be sure if you are a real police officer? I haven't seen you around here before." I say, sparing a glance at Lucas, who looks extremely conscious about the alcohol in the backseat. "It's better if you ignore what just happened and walk back to your car. That's the best solution." I add.

The police officer pulls out a card from his pocket, which shows his name clearly with his title.

Damian Reid

With an annoyed sigh, I pull out my wallet and give him my driver's license. He takes it and reads the details.

"River Lockhart. Twenty years old. Do you want to die at this young age?" he asks.

"Probably," I mutter.

"I will give you a speeding ticket," he says, pulling out the ticket book to write the details.

"Trust me, officer. You don't want to do that." I say with a little smirk.

"Yeah. You will wish you never even thought of it." Lucas adds by the passenger's seat, and I watch the officer's expressions.

"Why?" he asks, raising his eyebrow in question while scribbling down on the ticket. He tears it over and hands me the ticket. "Are you the Prime Minister's son?"

"What if I am?" I intervene. I mean, I am already mad now, and he's just testing my patience.

"It doesn't matter."

I internally roll my eyes at his words and look at the ticket.

"Fifty dollars? Seriously? Shouldn't this be over a thousand dollars?" I ask.

"Sure. I considered your age. Don't let me see you overspeeding again," he says.

Something about him pisses me off at that point. He not only doesn't let me go, but he doesn't even know who I am after reading my last name. Not only that. He even gave me a speeding ticket!

I take out my wallet and pull out a hundred-dollar bill.

"Here." I hand it through the window.

"   "

"You can keep the change," I say with a tilt of my head.

"Pay to the court or online. Not to me," he says again, turning back to walk toward his police car. I watch his broad back for a while before getting annoyed again.

"Fuck. Like I would waste my time on that!" I say after him.

With an abrupt silence, he turns to look at me, his face saying that I am not playing with him but testing his limits. I remain in my seat, arms crossed over my chest and a bit mad, yet a chill down my spine at his gaze.

"Don't make me come over there," he says before getting into his car and driving off.

Oh damn.

There's silence in my vehicle for a minute.

"Damn. That went bad." Lucas exhales next to me with a sense of relief that the officer didn't find the empty alcohol bottles behind.

I tighten the grip around the steering wheel with a continuous pounding in my heart, which I don't know how to stop or how it came.

"River?" Lucas calls my name, and I turn to him.

"Huh?" I ask.

"Um... you look red. Are you okay? Should we tell your father about this police officer? He'll finish him off so you can be at peace. I mean. That idiot clearly disrespected you. Acted like he didn't know you and gave you a speeding ticket. He should be taken care of. He doesn't know his place." Lucas rants about the situation.

"No! No... It's um- fine. I am just... Can you do me a favour?" I ask him.

"Yeah?"

"Pay the speeding ticket for me." I give him the ticket and the hundred-dollar bill.

"What?? Are you seriously going to consider this ticket? Dude! I'll tell my dad! He always takes care of things for you. He'll take care of this officer as well-" he says about informing his dad, Mr Turner, who's my dad's secretary and right-hand man.

I interrupt Lucas' words, "It's fine. It's just a speeding ticket, nothing else."

"But this officer completely crossed the line! He even threatened you at the end. Don't you understand? He should know his place before anything. He's acting that way because he is new to this area and doesn't know anything. When he gets to know who you are, he will immediately regret his actions," he blabbers.

"Yeah. He'll get to know. So reacting to what happened now is unnecessary." I say, wondering how he might react when he gets to know who I am.

I look out of the window and notice the police car taking a U-turn to go the other way. I notice Officer Damian Reid sparing a glance at me before driving off.

God. How can someone who works against illegal activities be this illegally intimidating and handsome?

---

As I lie in my bed in my lonely penthouse, I scroll through my phone, where I type the same Police Officer's name here and there to find anything interesting about him.

A lot of suggestions appear, and I find his information on an official site. He had lived in another state before transferring here for his first duty. Oh. He's twenty-five years old, and he did look around that age with his sharp jawline and hard gaze.

There isn't much information about him other than that.

But he's indeed a tad bit interesting. I mean, he didn't even give a fuck about what I had to say. He didn't even take the money that I gave him.

I can remember one time, an officer let me pass by after I handed him the only note left in my pocket, which was fifty dollars. This man didn't even budge for a hundred dollars.

I remember the hard gaze he gave me before leaving. He does know how to frown and intimidate another person.

I should wait for Lucas to pay the speeding ticket so I can show this officer, Officer Damien that I indeed paid the price. His hard glare will go away when he gets to know that.

And then...

Yeah.

Sounds like a perfect plan.