Chapter 65: Chapter Sixty-Five

Frankie grasped his ribs as another round of laughter threatened to spike his pain level over the threshold of his tolerance. His obvious discomfort didn’t make Montgomery stop his retelling of the night before in which he’d watched Phil get kicked out of Mirrors for breaking through the glass to get to his fiancée… and the woman who was eating her out. Frankie took a sip of his water and finished the mashed potatoes on his plate as Montgomery gave Phil a resounding slap on the back.

“Come on Phil, it was funny. Your fiancée is hot as fuck, you can’t blame the broad for wanting a taste,” Montgomery said as the other men in the room tried to control their laughter.

“Ex\-fiancée,” Phil grumbled, tossing his take-out box on the end of Frankie’s hospital bed.

The door to his room opened. Matteo Accardi stepped into the threshold and eyed the six men crammed around Frankie’s bed eating takeout, drinking beer and hiding vape pens from the boss who was in the middle of a nicotine detox. The don gave a swift nod of his head to the door as he stepped through it. A dozen feet scrambled to follow his silent command. Frankie sighed and took the last few bites of his steak, the first bit of real food he’d had in days.

“Thanks for the grub, Jasper,” Frankie called as the chef gave a quick wave.

Matteo grabbed the poor man by his shirt sleeve, stalling his retreat. He held his hand out and gestured with his fingers.

“Uh, Sir?” Jasper asked, unsure what he needed.

“The vape. Hand it over,” Matteo demanded. Jasper cast a look of concern toward Frankie. “I know, sure as fuck, you didn’t just look at another man for permission to do as your Don commanded.”

“Right, no, of course not, Sir,” Jasper stuttered. He quickly pulled his vape from his back pocket and handed it over to the angry Don before stumbling out of the door and away from his wrath.

Matteo sighed and clutched the vape like a lifeline as he took the last few steps and fell into the chair by Frankie’s bedside. He winced as he tried to rearrange his body in search of a somewhat comfortable position. He looked rough. Matteo’s olive skin was nearly as pale as Frankie’s. His eyelids were heavy, his brow furrowed, his left arm in a sling and he’d clearly lost a few pounds during his stay a few doors down. Matteo took a pull of the vape, coughed, gripped his chest as if his lungs were being ripped from his chest and then threw the vape across the room.

“Fucking piece… of shit,” Matteo cursed between ragged coughs that made even Frankie wince.

“At least you’re able to get out of bed. I still have a tube shoved up my urethra,” Frankie tried to joke.

Matteo closed his eyes and laid his head back against the chair. The man sat in silence for a moment as his breathing returned to normal.

“Seems our girls are getting along,” Frankie mused, referring to the fact that Gen had come to collect Gloria about an hour earlier. Something about a crafting project?

“Hm.”

“Look, Man,” Frankie began, setting his box of take-out on the table beside his bed. Matteo opened his eyes but didn’t lift his head. “Before you start in on whatever you need to say. I need to say…” Frankie took a deep breath. After a moment Matteo’s head lulled forward to look at him. “Thank you,” Frankie finally got out. “Thank you for doing what you did. For saving her. I won’t ever forget it.”

Matteo stared at Frankie, his light brown eyes trying to dissect whatever he thought he heard hiding behind his words by examining his expression. He nodded once and looked away, never one to discuss his feelings with anyone but his wife.

“Consider it a down payment on fixing what I already fucked up,” Matteo said.

Frankie chuckled. “I’ll tell her to tally up the points so you know where you stand.”

Another round of silence filled the room. Frankie braced. He was familiar with this silence. The way Matteo would look anywhere but at him. The way his fingers tapped on the arm of the chair he sat in. The frequency with which his jaw ticked. He had something to say… and he didn’t want to say it.

“You’re killing me here. Whatever it is…”

“I want you to step away for a while,” Matteo said, interrupting him.

Frankie stared at the mafia don whose own gaze didn’t waver. His jaw was set. His body rigid. Frankie sat back against his pillows, the breath knocked out of him.

“What?”

Matteo sighed. “Don’t look at me like a puppy I’ve just kicked down the street.”

“Look,” Frankie said, sitting up straighter and pointing a shaking finger at him. “I got into something without your permission. I get you’re pissed but I told you I wanted to take the lead and that’s exactly what…”

“Take the lead, Frank, not run in half-cocked to a situation in which you left absolutely no crumbs for us to follow,” Matteo growled.

“I’m sorry, should I have left a sticky note on your bathroom mirror with a lipstick kiss?” Frankie barked, the heart monitor attached to his chest starting to spike.

“Four men!” Matteo bellowed, his own chest inflating to twice its size until his injury got in the way and he winced. “I lost four men chasing after you. Four men who wouldn’t have had to die if you merely clued me into what you were planning.” Frankie scoffed and crossed his arms. Matteo sighed again. “I have never left you out of anything, Frank. I trust you. I trust your judgement. I listen to your counsel. I just wish… I wish you felt the same about me.”

“He was underground,” Frankie mumbled, the vulnerability in his friend's statement making him uncomfortable. “I had to draw him out. You would have told me to find another way and it would have been months until…”

“Why the fuck does that matter?”

“How far along is Gen?” Frank asked, raising a brow. “To my count we only have a few months before you have to take paternity leave. Then I’m stuck here doing your bidding. I have a clock and it’s running out whether you want to recognize it or not.”

“And you have a woman with a specific clause to her contract,” Matteo argued.

Frankie ducked his head and played with the sheets in his lap. “That has not yet been decided.”

Matteo scoffed. “Please, you went running after Sergei knowing full well what was in store. Say you were seeking information all you want. I fucking know you. I know you wanted to cross streams and see who had the bigger army at their back. Congratulations, you won.”

Frankie smirked. “That’s very vulgar of you, Matteo.”

“I want you to take time off,” Matteo repeated, his patience waning.

“I don’t need…”

“For Christ’s sake, Frankie, I’m not firing you,” Matteo said on an exhale.

“I haven’t taken time off since I started working for you.”

“False, you took one a couple weeks ago, remember? The first time you went chasing after this girl? And like you said, the baby is growing every day. Before long I won’t be as dependable. I’ll need someone who isn’t caught up in his own shit by my side.”

“That sounds like you’re trying to replace me.”

“And if you stay with Gloria that’s exactly what I’ll have to do!” Matteo growled.

“Nothing has been decided!” Frankie yelled back.

Matteo’s jaw ticked. “Take a few weeks. Get your shit in order. Then come back,” Matteo said, decisively. He stood up to punctuate that he felt the conversation was over.

“It won’t take a few weeks,” Frankie mumbled though the confidence in his ability waned with each day he remained bedbound.

“Then tack on a few extra days and consider it a honeymoon for all I care so that when you come back you won’t bitch about me taking mine. Maybe by then I’ll have narrowed down the candidates and you can run them through the wringer while I’m gone.”

Frankie made a sound in the deepest part of his throat and shook his head. “Who are you testing out? I know Leo won’t take the position.”

Matteo rubbed his face. “I don’t know. Don, maybe Thomas. Jeremy.”

“Don? Really? Don’t you think that’ll be confusing? You’re in a meeting and someone says, ‘Don, what do you think about that?’ and that fucker starts answering?” Frankie joked, trying to make light though he felt his world crumbling down around him.

He felt Matteo’s hand on his shoulder. “I’m not replacing you, Frank. That isn’t possible. I’m only… preparing for when you decide to make the same decision I did.”

“Oh, yeah? And what was that?” Frank asked, looking up at his best friend.

The right side of Matteo’s mouth lifted up on the right. “Family over business.”

“They’re not one and the same to you?” Frankie asked, laughing slightly.

Matteo’s hand squeezed before he released him and patted the same shoulder. “You’ll see soon enough.” Matteo stepped away and then stopped. He held his finger up and turned back around. “I almost forgot.” He pulled something from his back pocket and handed it down to Frankie.

Frankie raised a brow as he flipped the thumb drive between his fingers. “What’s this?”

“Something that I think will help make your decision easier,” Matteo said with a conspiratorial grin.

Please don't yell at me in the comments, haha, more chapters will be uploaded in a few hours! Thank you for your patience! --Allison