Page 70 of SEAL Mates

Blake

I was so fucking nervous, it was stupid, because I’d been in the Navy for so many years; moved to the States, but nothing made me as nervous as the idea of Paula packing up her things and leaving us. I’d seen a different side to me, one that I never knew existed. And my brother. The one I lived with, but used to resent as a kid felt like he was slowly but surely becoming my best friend. I stood by the car, trying to figure out which one to fix next. It was silly cause I didn’t have to do anything in a hurry anymore. Ryan had hired an apprentice and I’d found less things to do in the garage.

“Hey, what you doing here, Ray?” I asked as he was hovering by the door, debating whether to come in or not.

I ignored me, and spun around, as if he regretted it. Ryan was going to chase after him, but I motioned for him to leave it to me. So, I picked up my pace to catch up to him.

“Ray?”

I asked as I put my hand on his shoulder. He shook it away as if he was shocked that I touched him. As he turned to face me, I knew that look too well.

Kylie seemed to be crazy about fashion. I’d caught her more than enough times in front of the mirror or in the living room when no one was around making her own Tiktok video. It was a thing that most teens seemed to be doing these days, or so Alec said when I told him about it.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

I shook my head, and smiled at him. I wasn’t the type of reassuring guy, so even smiling felt a little awkward.

“I could do with some company. I don’t really need to work on anything anyway.”

“Oh?”

I wasn’t much of a talker, but for some reason knowing that Ray was feeling lost and looking the way he did, I decided I could do with some company even if it was with him and I hardly knew him, but there was a time and place for everything.

“You wanted to escape the mad house?”

He chuckled, and then scratched his head, as if he was confused.

“No. You’ve got a beautiful house. I wish our house was like yours.”

I shrugged, thinking that we’d done a good job, but I didn’t think of it was the best house in town. There were a few that could probably hit the top 10 list, and ours would be on there, but it wouldn’t be number one.

“So, do you know anything about cars?”

His eyes lit up, telling me that it wasn’t boredom that drove him here, but something else.

“I was in the diner and I heard that you have a Ferrari 500 TRC and I was wondering if it was true.”

I shook a finger at him. “You’re a Ferrari man, then?”

He chuckled, as if by confessing why he was here, he’d let the cat out of the bag.

“Yep. I love old cars. They don’t make them the way that they used to do. Now it’s all electric and everything. So does that mean you would be out of job?”

I shrugged thinking that I’d never thought about it on that level, because I didn’t plan on working that long.

“I think with every kind of change, everyone adapts. I would have to do that too. It doesn’t mean it’s the end. It just means that I wouldn’t be covered in grease all day.”

“I bet the women would like you more?”

He was young, naive, I didn’t want to burst his bubble, by telling him that even his mom was turned on by the grease. It was funny, I remember before I joined the Navy women would go all hot over guys being billionaires and shit, and now it was about mechanics, construction workers, firemen and cops. Who knew what was going to happen in the future? Sure, change wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it could be a good thing at times.

“So, you want to look at the Ferrari or what?”

I didn’t have to say more, I could tell this kid had an interest in something and judging by the way his eyes lit up, it was clearly cars.

“How did you know that you wanted to be a mechanic? I mean you used to be in the Navy. It’s completely different.”

I agreed with him, as I nodded my head.

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