Page 14 of Prove Me Wrong
Chapter Five
NOAH
“Damon!”
My voice echoes through the garage that reeks of grease, metal and petrol. I’m changing the oil on an older Ford, and the damn cap won’t screw back on. I’ve fiddled with it for a minute, but it just won’t go back on.
“Damon!” I yell louder, hoping to get my boss’s attention.
My mouth opens to yell when a calm voice breathes down my neck. “Right here, buddy.”
I jump from his nearness, banging my head on the bonnet. Damon chuckles with amusement. Metal digging into my skull, I rub at the area while tossing him a cold glare.
That’s going to hurt tomorrow.
“Sorry, but it was just too easy.” Damon’s shoulders jiggle as he laughs, a hand on his non-existent stomach.
My jaw grits as I force the cap into his hand. “You need to get a wife. Someone else to torture besides me.”
“Pfft, I hardly torture you.”
My tongue pokes the side of my cheek as he pushes me out the way, easily screwing the cap on, like he’s rubbing it in my face. “Yesterdayyou poked your head in through the window when I was fitting in new brakes. You don’t ever scare a man when he’s working with tools. That’s mechanics 101,” I grumble.
“So, I did scare you, didn’t I?” Damon wriggles dark brows. I groan, rolling my eyes.
He pushes back, slamming the bonnet shut, the motion vibrating the wooden walls of the garage. He wipes his greasy hands on stained blue overalls. “Speaking of a wife, have you found anyone special yet?”
I scoff, thinking of Mia. I’ve been thinking about her proposition all morning, knowing that Jade is most likely at the daycare, crying. She’s always hated going there, but there’s nothing else I can do. “No. I have to be looking in order to find someone, and I haven’t done that since Jade was born. I don’t exactly have the time or energy.”
He gives me a twisted smile before stalking over to the Toyota he was working on before he thought that scaring me out of my skin was a better idea. “I think it’s time for you to go out there and get down with a lady.”
“Firstly,” I raise my dirty index finger at him, “nobody younger than thirty says 'get down' anymore. And secondly, if you somehow forgot, I have someone I am busy raising. I don’t have time to date.”
Damon knocks my finger away from his older face, giving me a condescending smile. “Jade isn’t even two yet. She doesn’t know any better. And you’re allowed to be happy.”
“I am happy," I retort, putting on a false smile to prove my point. Damon deadpans. “I mean with a woman, Noah.”
I sigh, leaning against the Toyota’s spoiler. “Damon, we have been over this before. I can’t date. Jade is my first priority, then this, and racing comes second. I don’t have time for anyone else right now.”
Damon’s raven eyebrow arches. “I feel like I should fire you for not putting your work first,” he grumbles out. “But I won’t...”
“You wouldn’t, anyway. You know there’s nobody else in Barrenridge that can do what I do. And nobody would put up with your annoying ass for eight hours a day.”
He snorts a gruff laugh. “Yet you want me to find a wife?”
“I want you to stop trying to scare me into having a brain injury,” I grunt.
“It’s not my fault you hit your head,” he counters.
I deadpan. “It kind of was since you were the one sneaking up on me like a snake.”
Damon laughs huskily before grabbing a floor roller. “I’m not going to apologise for bringing some fun into the workplace.”
“Even when it’s in a garage full of fumes, petrol and sharp tools?”
He shrugs, and I just shake my golden hair at him. “I’ve survived here for twenty-something years. I think you will as well.”
I sigh right as the phone rings in the office. “I’ll get it.”
