If you could save someone's life, would you? Anyone's? Ali's older brother has a swastika tattooed on his knuckles, a prison ID number for nearly beating an immigrant to death, and spent his teenage years ruthlessly persecuting Ali for being gay. Blood may be thicker than water, but Ali has spent most of his life desperate to prove he is nothing like Tony. A committed vegetarian, charity-supporter, and blood donor, Ali would do anything for anyone. Ali may share parentage with Tony, but he’s determined not to share anything else if he can help it. So when Tony contracts leukaemia, and Ali is the only match for the urgently-needed bone marrow transplant, Ali is caught between two equally awful choices: to refuse and condemn a man to death, or to donate. And in donating, save the life of the man who nearly murdered Ali's Iraqi boyfriend?

Thicker Than Bone

Ali felt raw. He reached up for Yazid’s offered hands and hauled himself up into a kiss, closed and content.


“Hyper weirdness aside,” Yazid whispered lowly against Ali’s mouth, “you know exactly how I feel about you.”


Ali looped his arms around Yazid’s neck and kissed back. He should have felt stupid, or at least cold, standing in their chilly hall with his jeans and boxers halfway down and everything just hanging out, but instead, he simply felt happy.


The bedroom door creaked, and a weight dropped onto the end of the bed with a soft flump and an even softer mraow. Ali cracked open tired eyes, peered at the clock, and snorted.


“No way, Mox,” he mumbled, and groped around under the duvet. There was warmth around here somewhere.


Chapter 17