THIEF: Part 4 Read Online Free Page A

.”
                  They’re all ignoring me, looking at Dr. Brody and waiting.
                  “Uh…well,” he says, turning to face them, “it used to be that donors only came from the immediate gene pool.Parents and siblings are still the best match, but nowadays, yes—even strangers can be compatible, given medical advances.”
                  “We aren’t strangers,” Fiona says.
                  “Non-immediate relatives,” Dr. Brody corrects himself, smiling.
                  Everyone’s quiet for a minute.I hear nurses laughing down the hall, some traffic on the highway through my window.The air vents whoosh on, startling us a little.
                  “All right, then,” Dr. Brody says, exhaling, “we’ll get treatment started today.If all goes well, discharge could be in order in just a couple days.Then you'd just come back weekly for treatment, ‘tilit's done.”He looks at me, patting my foot through the blankets.“Consider yourself blessed, Miss St. James.Not everyone is lucky enough to have three willing donors before they even need them.”
                  Despite myself, I smile back.
     
     
    “So it’s chemo.”
                  The nurse shifts his jaw, giving me a tired expression.“I said it’s the same drug used in chemo.Sometimes.”He finishes installing the bag in my IV.“Smaller dose, shorter timeframe.You might get nauseous; in fact, I’m kind of guaranteeing it—”He says this with a sad smile, but instead of sympathy, I think he’s happy, in a way; my snarky tone is clearly not appreciated.“—but you won’t get the other side effects, like total hair loss or permanent infertility.”
                  “Yay.”
                  He ignores me, finishing up.“There,” he says, clearly as ready to get out of here as I am.“The drip will finish in a couple hours.”
                  “Then I can go home?”
                  “Not up to me, sweetheart.”
                  I narrow my eyes.“When can I start eating normal foods?”So far, in the two days I’ve been hospitalized, my diet’s consisted of two things: nothing, or low-sodium chicken broth.
                  “Again, not up to me.”And with that, he leaves, waving a tiny fuck-you kind of wave en route.
                  On cue, from his seat in the corner, Alex reminds me, “Could be worse.”
                  I manage a half-smile.“I know.I’m just pouting.”
                  “You deserve to.”
                  “Yeah?”
                  “Well…”He scratches his head.“Maybe not quite so much.”
                  We laugh at this.My negativity keeps alternating with defensive, sarcastic humor, and by now every nurse on the floor has grown standoffish with me.It makes me feel a little bratty, but in a way, it also makes me feel better.“I’m not the Pollyanna, Miss Sunshine type,” I tell him.
                  “I’ve noticed.”He kisses me, and, not for the first time, I’m insanely happy that he’s here with me.
                  “Where’s Jane?”
                  He checks his watch.“For the last twenty minutes or so, she’s been outside yelling at some caterer.”
                  I nod; this seems about right.“Fiona?”
                  “FaceTime with, in her words, ‘her gay ex-boyfriend.’”He shrugs.“Something about his stuff getting the hell out of her apartment, pronto.”
                  Again, I nod.Everything and everyone, with the exception of myself, seems right at home in their natural places.Life is going on just outside my door, same as always.
                  “So we’re alone,” I say casually.
                  Alex looks around,