Page 7 of The Betas: Rene
Chapter Three
Greenwich Village
The Alpha’s House
The Alpha Mate spent his day in the studio. Sean teased René all day about hisgangster Mate.René kept frowning. He didn’t think it was funny. Finally, The Alpha Mate apologized.
“I have a sense of humor, Alpha Mate, and normally I would laugh with you. However, Frankie is very sensitive about what his stepfather does for a living. He’s been forced to work for Don Ferone for ten years for what amounts to an indentured servant’s salary to pay off his school. He’s spent this time in a perpetual fight with his stepfather because he couldn’t live with himself if he did what Don Ferone asked him to do and that Frankie didn’t think was right.”
“But why does he work for Don Ferone if he objects to his business?” Sean’s washed his hands at the sink, removing most of the clay. The two of them started to clean Sean’s tools. Knowing the routine René thoroughly dried them before they were stored in the custom cabinets. They spoke as they worked in tandem.
“I explained that. Don Ferone wouldn’t let Frankie go anywhere else. His stepfather arranged it so that he couldn’t. Frankie never wanted any part of Ferone’s business. He’s desperate to get a different job. His stepfather extracted a promise from Frankie to work for him for ten years to pay for his Harvard education. Frankie agreed at first because he couldn’t get a job anywhere else but…”
“Why not? Didn’t he do well in school?” Sean interrupted, sounding skeptical.
“Alpha Mate,” René’s voice rose. This was the first time since Sean and The Alpha mated that Sean really annoyed him. He had exasperated René many times, but this was the first time he’d made René angry. “Frankie was the valedictorian of his class. He couldn’t get hired in the city because of his last name and Ferone’s influence. All his stepfather had to do was drop a word in a few ears. Everyone knows who Don Ferone is, and they refused to hire Frankie for fear of getting on the bad side of the mob. So, Frankie had to work for Ferone or not work at all. For ten years, he clashed with Ferone because he refused to do anything that he considered to be wrong. It gives me an ulcer to even think about it, and I’m loup garou. Think what that would do to a human. How would you like to live with Sergeant Tom Quinn for ten years with no recourse and to get the shit beat out of you emotionally and mentally every day, because you couldn’t do something you found to be morally reprehensible?”
Sean whistled low. “It must have been hard to refuse his father.”
“Don’t call Don Ferone his father in front of Frankie. He’s not his biological father. His biological father was a hero in the Bosnian War. Not too many people even recall we were in Bosnia because it was eclipsed by nine-eleven, but Frankie remembers. That’s where his troubles began. Ferone came around claiming to be a friend of Frankie’s father’s and fell for his mother. That’s the one thing Frankie says is true. Ferone loves his mother. Adores her in fact. He proposed less than a year after Frankie’s father died. Then he tried to erase Frankie’s father from both his mother’s and Frankie’s life. Frankie’s mother married Don Ferone over Frankie’s objections. He adopted Frankie at the same time, and Frankie couldn’t do anything about it. He was only twelve. Ferone only found out Frankie was gay after the marriage even though his mother knew all along. He told his parents when he was nine. His dad was okay with it. Ferone, not so much.”
“Easy, René. I didn’t understand it was that difficult for him.” He raised his hands and changed his tone.
“Resisting Don Ferone was even harder than you can imagine, Alpha Mate. Frankie thought his stepfather hired him to make his business legitimate. Frankie originally held on to that thought, or he would have gone crazy. Eventually, he found that it wasn’t the case. Every legitimate enterprise Frankie proposed, Don Ferone shot down. As time passed, the truth emerged. His stepfather wanted Frankie to take over for him so that his brother, Don Ferone’s biological son, wouldn’t have to run it but could still benefit from the income it generated. Frankie didn’t say so, but I think Dante Junior is a spoiled brat. Frankie says he drives a Ferrari and is going to the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Dante has the money so that Dante Junior could attend college wherever he pleases. I think it’s safe to infer that Junior doesn’t apply himself. Don Ferone is smart, Frankie is smarter.” René emphasized his words by smacking his hands together in a fierce defense of his Mate.
“Yeah, but Frankie’s mother must be kind of light in the packet, which would account for the brother. Frankie’s father was probably the smart one. Doesn’t she know she put her son in the way of a mob boss?”
Sean had changed his tone, René mused. His charge had changes sides from Devil’s Advocate to full on support of his minder’s man.
“Frankie says that she still believes he imports olive oil.” René didn’t know who exasperated him more, Frankie’s mother for being so naïve or Don Ferone for being such a nasty bastard. Poor Frankie loved his mother dearly, and she loved Ferone, so Frankie told no secrets. They had discussed Frankie’s situation at length over dinner last night. There were no easy answers.
“What’s Frankie going to do?”
“Don Ferone made Frankie promise him ten years. The ten years are up this month. Frankie says that Don Ferone will keep his promise to let him go. Two questions remain. Is Frankie right, and will Don Ferone give him up as he promised, and will he let him come work for us? It’s possible that Ferone came up with the number ten because he didn’t think Frankie would be able to get work anywhere else after spending all this time in a criminal enterprise. If that’s the case, he’s going to be none too happy that Armand has offered him a job and a way out. He’ll be even unhappier with Frankie for marrying, as that doesn’t go over too well with the mob and their ilk. And The Alpha can’t afford to have bad relations with the Italians.”
“What’s Armand waiting for? And why does my Armand have to worry about the Italians?” Sean asked, obviously impatient for René to answer. “If Frankie worked here, it would be easier for you to court him, and his conscience could rest easy. We may bend human law a little, but we don’t hurt people. If Don Ferone made a promise, he should keep it.”
“Frankie can’t come to work for The Alpha unless he accepts me. We have secrets, Alpha Mate. If Frankie doesn’t accept me, he can’t work where he has access to our secrets. You and The Alpha have to be able to relax in your own home, and if Frankie isn’t one of us, he can’t be here. The Alpha promised Frankie that he would get him a job elsewhere if he couldn’t work here. But there is still the possibility of a problem with Don Ferone. A war with the Italians is a war we couldn’t win because we can’t harm humans. The best we could do is defend ourselves.”
“What happens to your mating then, if we can’t bring Don Ferone around?”
René shook his head. “I don’t know, Alpha Mate. I don’t know.”
§ § §
While René spent the afternoon with Sean in the studio, Frankie had a slow day at Dante’s restaurant. Finally, he gave up trying to appear alert. He sat at a banquette in the back, put up his feet, and began reading the Jason Jones book René recommended on his phone’s Kindle app.
Halfway through the afternoon, Frankie decided that the book annoyed him. This was the third time he had picked it up, then put it down. He couldn’t understand why René asked him to read a book about werewolves. Frankie loved gay romance, and reading gay romance during his downtime on the job wasn’t unusual. Anyone who had access to his Kindle account would know that, but he avoided the paranormal titles. They made him uncomfortable.
He identified too strongly with the feelings ofothernessthe characters displayed, and all the paranormal books told the same story. Human hero feels apart from other humans and falls for a gargoyle, vampire, werewolf, or fill in the blank. They all followed the same trope. A human who doesn’t fit in among his own takes refuge in the paranormal and finds forever love. It hit too close to home. He sure as hell didn’t fit in with the mob. Even the fifty men he commanded viewed him asother. They didn’t accept his sexuality so much as ignored it and hoped it would go away?and he wanted a Mate, a forever love.
Frankie shook his head.Although this book is different from others I’ve seen, I must admit this werewolf tale takes a turn for the unexpected. The wolves aren’t bikers or hidden in the woods, they are right here mixing with ordinary people who have no clue. I’m enjoying it, and it seems plausible. Jason Jones is a good writer even though I don’t necessarily like the subject. If I wanted fantasy, I’d read Tolkien. But he was lying. He was enjoying this book despite his misgivings and protests.I know in my heart that I want it to be real.
Frankie changed position on the bench. There must be a reason René wanted him to read this, so he picked the book back up and continued. He read a little further.How could Richie not know what Peter was? Wait a minute!Frankie read furiously to the end of the chapter. He frantically turned the pages backward and read the chapter a second time. He put down his phone. Then he picked it up, put it down again, picked it up, brought up the keypad and dialed René. His anger was palpable. The only man he had ever come close to loving—yeah, he couldn’t explain that either—was certifiable, or a fucking clown.
§ § §
René’s phone rang.That’s strange. No one calls me in the middle of the day.He picked up on the third ring.
