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

“You are better,” Ali said like it was an accusation. He patted the backpack he’d dumped at the bottom of the bed. “I brought you some clothes. I figured they’ve probably destroyed your T-shirt. You bled all over it.”


“I’ll try and bleed on the floor next time.”


“No next time,” Ali said warningly, shaking out a T-shirt and a pair of baggy jogging bottoms. “Lee said he’s going to come over tomorrow and finish off the celebratory drinks with you. He was mad. I didn’t know Lee could get mad.”


“Yeah, call him a darkie, that’ll do it,” Yazid said sourly, gingerly pushing the sheets back and sliding his feet out of the bed. When he wasn’t struck by a dizzy spell, he picked at the gown and slid it free. “At least I’m technically foreign. Lee’s from Birmingham.”


“That’s worse than being from Iraq any day,” Ali said snottily, and helped Yazid into the jogging bottoms.


Yazid felt stiff, unsure if it was the aftershock of being bottled or the aftershock of the awful beds in this place.


Chapter 78