Page 16 of The Betas: Rene
René put his arm around Frankie’s shoulders, and a spark traveled through Frankie’s arm from his Mate’s loving touch. He moved closer to the man he had grown to love, yeslovein only a day.There must be something to this Mate business. René had said they were together in many lifetimes, and considering the way he felt about his new fiancé in such a short time, it was all true.
“But Dante wanted to retire and leave you the business…” His mother parroted the old argument back to him as if she were a recorded greeting.
“I’ve told you, I’ve told my brother, and I’ve told Dante many times, I don’t want anything to do with theolive oilbusiness. I didn’t ten years ago, and I feel even more strongly about it now. I owed Dante for my education so I worked for him for ten years at half the salary I could have gotten elsewhere. At my new job, I’ll be making a half million a year,” Frankie said with smug satisfaction. His mother thought that he couldn’t get a job with anyone but his father. Now, he was finally able to show her what he could do once removed from Dante’s sphere of influence.
“A half milliondollarsa year?”
His mother seemed incredulous. He didn’t know whether to be pleased or pissed. René pulled him closer. Frankie became oblivious to everyone in the room but René, as he kissed his fiancé’s neck. René brushed his lips over Frankie’s forehead and moved him away. Frankie’s gaze roamed down to the juncture of his beloved’s thighs. René’s member was outlined underneath his slacks. His fiancé appeared to be liberally endowed. Frankie grinned.
He brought his attention back to his mother. “Yes, a half milliondollarsa year.”
“Does René make a good salary?” His mother’s tone implied that she thought René planned to live off Frankie’s largesse.
Frankie clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Mother, René inherited family money besides what he earns from Mr. La Marche which, by the way, is much more than I make. He owns a townhouse on Washington Square where we plan to live. It’s two doors down from Mr. La Marche’s home. Martin owns the townhouse next door to Mr. La Marche with his husband. Armand La Marche is a business acquaintance of Dante’s. You might hold Dante indirectly responsible for me meeting René. Dante sent me to do some work for a member of Mr. La Marche’s Board of Directors, Julien. I knew Julien from the clubs. And Dante’s job cemented the friendship. Julien introduced me to René at Julien and Richard’s wedding reception.” Frankie adjusted the position of the phone on his shoulder.
“Oh, Julien is gay, too?”
“Most of my friends are gay. If you come to the wedding, the people on the guest list will all be gay aside from my family if Dante and Junior come with you, the factotum, and their wives. As Dante can tell you, the entire Board of Directors of Garou is gay. Mom, at Garou I will be with people like me. I need you to help me with Dante.”
He could almost hear his mother blush at her own prejudice. She avoided commitment. “How nice that you met at a wedding, dear. Well, you bring your young man over tomorrow afternoon. But you need to tell Dante you intend to leave the business, today. I’m sure he’ll have a hard time replacing you. Why don’t you stay with your father until he can get someone else?”
“First of all,he’s not my father.Second, if I tell Dante that I’ll stay until he finds someone, he never will find someone else for what he pays me. Even so, he doesn’t need to search far. Several of hisassociateshave gone to Columbia, another Ivy League school, and received an MBA just as respectable as mine. One of them could do what I do and, I might add, do it willingly.”
“I give up.” His mother sighed. “But I’ll help. Give your young man my regards and congratulations. I’ll see you tomorrow. Please don’t cancel. I want to meet your future husband.”
“I promise, I’ll come, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Frankie.” She drew a deep breath. Frankie could picture her lips pursing. “I wish you and Dante could settle whatever it is between you.”
“I’m not going to stop being gay, Mom. Even if we settled everything else, that still remains.” There was silence at the other end of the phone. “René and I will be there at three for coffee. Okay?”
“Yes, dear. I’ll see you and your fiancé at three. I’ll have Carmen make some cake.”
“We’ll bring something sweet. Carmen doesn’t have to bother.”
“Now you stop that right now, Frankie. If I don’t get to help plan my oldest son’s wedding, I should at least be able to provide the cake when I meet his intended.” His mother got huffy.
He didn’t have the heart to tell her that Carmen, along with being lazy, was a terrible cook. That’s why he’d tried to hire Isabel for her. His mother was also horrible in the kitchen, so she didn’t notice how bad Carmen’s cooking was, but Dante did. He admired him for his forbearance. His mother loved Carmen, so Carmen stayed. That was one fact that was never in dispute. Dante loved his mother. He hung up the phone.
Frankie turned to The Alpha. “Alpha, you heard. She’ll help, albeit reluctantly.”
“I’m curious. If Dante loves your mother so much, why were you so dead set against the relationship?” The Alpha sat behind his chair at the library table and leaned back with his hands on his chest, tenting his fingers. “Dante strikes me as a proud man, he might be more willing to let a son who loves him follow his dreams than an ungrateful stepson. After all, he did adopt you.”
“Make no mistake, Alpha. Dante hates what we are, and if he could do so without repercussions to his business and without causing a war with your forces, he’d tell you himself. Because he can’t afford a war with Garou, he may swallow his pride and acquiesce to my leaving, but he’ll make me pay for it. He’ll set the price at an amount I can’t possibly afford.”
René put his arm around Frankie’s shoulders while Frankie broke down and cried for all his lost years and his failing relationship with his mother.
“My dad accepted me the way I was. Dante never could. I knew that as soon as I met him. When I found out he was a criminal, I knew that eventually, no matter how careful he was, he’d go to jail and my mother’s world will collapse.”
René patted him on the back.
“I’ve tried to save every dime. I have only five hundred thousand dollars, even though I bought a condo the size of a cardboard box to live in and have spent very little money. I only had one hundred thousand dollars to invest. I more than tripled it but Dante has been skirting closer and closer to the line lately, and I’ve been beside myself with worry.”
René took out his handkerchief and wiped Frankie’s eyes.
“I can sell the condo for about one million. I owe five hundred thousand. The condo is in a good neighborhood in Chelsea. It’s a shame I can’t rent it out.” Suddenly, Frankie’s eyes widened.
“What, Ma Vie?” René asked him.
