Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
They had.
But that didn’t mean she had to take my sister away and let me think that she was suffering all this time.
“She’s happily married, Athena. How could I have taken that away from her?” she asked.
I didn’t know what to say.
This was all overwhelming.
In the end, I decided that I was done.
I needed to go home.
I needed to talk to Gable or Maven.
I needed out of here.
Now.
I started heading for the door, the letter still clenched in my fist.
My mom stopped me when my hand was on the doorknob to leave.
“She wants to meet you. Get to know you.”
I heard the lie in her voice.
There was more to it than that.
I turned on shaky legs to face her.
“Why now?” I asked. “Why are you finally filling me in now?”
Her eyes shifted slightly to the left as she started speaking.
“Mary Beth needs a kidney,” she blurted out.
I blinked.
“And we know you’re a match,” she continued.
Still, I waited.
“I know this is a shock, and I’m sorry to even have to ask, but would you mind donating a kidney to your sister? She could die without it,” she pushed.
“How would you know that I’m a match?” I asked carefully. “We’re not even blood related.”
Her words surprised me, even though at this point they shouldn’t have.
“Because we had your blood tested.” She looked slightly ill. “When you were at the hospital last week.”
“I was at the hospital for a routine test,” I said. “I…” I stopped. “My birth mother didn’t die of that inherited blood disease, did she?”
My mother shook her head no.
It was at that point that I was done.
There would be no more talking to her.
Done.
D. O. N. E.
“Hope you have a good rest of your life, Mother,” I snarled. “Because I’m done.”
With that parting comment, I fled, heading to my car.
I wasn’t aware of where I’d driven until I pulled up to the police station.
I wandered to the side entrance and used my employee code to get in the back door.
I kept walking until I got to the area where Germaine, Garnett, Quinn, and Quaid had offices.
Maybe one of them would know where Gable was.
Or maybe I could just rest in one of their offices until Gable was found.
I don’t know why I didn’t just call him.
My brain wasn’t working all that great as all the thoughts, implications, and facts were whirling around up there.
But none of the Carters were there.
None of them.
I stopped at the desk where a receptionist should be and frowned.
“Athena?”
I turned to see none other than Callena standing there, looking worried.
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at the hospital?” she asked.
“Hospital?” I questioned. “Why would I be there?”
Her frown deepened. “You don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?” I asked.
She caught my hand and started tugging me toward the exit. “Come on. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
I don’t know why I followed her.
But I’ll never be more glad that I did.
Sorry for being a hater. I want to be a lover, but I hate everyone.
—Gable’s secret thoughts
GABLE
It was getting hard to breathe.
Was this what dying felt like?
“You’re going to be okay, brother.”
I looked up at Quinn’s face. “I am?”
Wow, was that my voice?
It sounded like sandpaper and gravel had a baby.
“Yes,” he said. “You are.”
“Athena,” I coughed. I felt like I was choking. “Can you get her?”
“We’re looking for her right now. She’s not answering her phone.” He pressed harder on my chest. “We’ll find her.”
Maybe they wouldn’t.
I might not get to see her before I died.
“What happened?” I asked again.
They wouldn’t tell me.
None of them would.
I couldn’t remember how I got into the room I was in.
My family was against the wall.
A lot of them were crying.
“I need a fuckin’ OR!” I heard yelled. “Now!”
“Felix is going to save you,” I heard whispered.
Val.
My sister’s sister-in-law.
Dr. Felix was her husband.
Both of them were doctors in the ER I was at.
And both of them were losing their mind.
From what I could tell, there weren’t any ORs open because of a mass incident that none of them would talk about.
“If you say so,” I sighed.
“She’s here!” someone called.
I turned to the doorway, expecting to see Athena, and found… Callena.
“No.” I shook my head. “Not her. I don’t want her.”
But then a cool hand was touching my face.
“I’m here.”
There was my angel.
“Athena,” I whispered.
“Open your eyes, Gable.”
I tried.
I couldn’t.
My eyes were too heavy.
“Can’t,” I admitted. “Heavy.”
She reached down and opened them for me.
I saw the shimmer of her tears as she looked down into my face. “I’m here.”
I tried to smile but couldn’t.
That was too hard, too.
“Love.” I drew in a shaky breath. “You.”
She moaned. “I love you, too, Gable. I love you, too.”
“I have an officer down here who’ll die if you don’t find me a fucking OR,” I heard an angry male voice say.
Maybe Felix again.
The sound that came out of Athena had me trying to comfort her, despite not having the energy.