Page 119 of Eleven of a Kind
“I better go change the sheets in the guestroom,” she said.
“Why? Nobody’s been in that bed since Riley.”
“You’re such a guy.” She rolled her eyes and went upstairs.
CHAPTER40
Gabriel
Carter went upstairs to lie down. He looked exhausted, and after seeing his latest test results, I wasn’t sure how he was even walking around. Grayson stepped through the sliding door and asked if I was ready to join our cousins down at the beach.
“I’m coming.” I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of beers.
“Where’s Carter?”
“He’s upstairs resting.”
“He can meet everyone tomorrow,” Grayson said.
We walked down to the beach and sat down.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked. “What’s with the family meeting?”
I twisted off the cap to my beer and tipped the bottle to my lips.
“Grayson and I have some news to tell you,” I said. “It’s something that affects this whole family.”
“Ah, shit. What is it?” Simon sighed. “You better not tell us you have a long-lost sibling or another kid.”
I looked over at Grayson.
“Gabriel? Grayson?” Shaun furrowed his brows.
“It seems we have a brother,” Grayson said.
“Yeah, right.” He chuckled. “Fuck you both.”
“We’re serious, Simon,” I said.
“What? How?” Shaun asked.
“It’s kind of like the situation you had with your father. Our father got two women pregnant at the same time.”
“What the fuck?” Simon said. “Who is this guy and where is he?”
“His name is Carter Kind, and he’s resting in my guestroom. He’ll be staying with us while he’s here.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Simon’s brow arched. “This guy can be a con or something. He just shows up out of the clear blue, and you welcome him with open arms? Have you learned nothing since you’ve met me?”
“He just recently found out about us because he’s very ill, and he needs a bone marrow transplant. Without it, he’ll die.”
“Jesus Christ,” Sebastian said.
“What’s wrong with him?” Jackson asked.
“He has aplastic anemia,” Grayson said.
“Oh shit,” Christian spoke. “If that goes untreated, it could affect his heart in a bad way.”