Can two broken men build one life? Ten years. That’s what Makai lost for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s been exonerated, but the abuse he suffered in prison isn’t so easy to leave behind. He heads to the one place he remembers being happy: Acker, Wisconsin, where he spent summers with his grandpa. Unfortunately, not everyone wants Makai there. Ten days. That’s how long Emil, now twenty-one, was held prisoner as a teenager. The mental and physical injuries he suffered at the hands of a drug trafficking ring still haunt him. Nightmares, anxiety, and PTSD challenge the connection forming between Makai and Emil, though together, they might find a way to move beyond their pain and into a future -- and a relationship -- that both had thought impossible. Now they just have to convince Emil’s father, the town sheriff. It won’t be easy with danger closer than they know ...

“Hey, Leah, can I get some blueberry pancakes with bacon, and a large latte?” Emil asked when he passed the counter.


“Sure, honey.” She smiled at him and continued to organize the rest of whatever she was organizing behind the counter, knowing that he wasn’t in a rush.


Evy was reading something, an actual book which she preferred over the electronic kind, and twirled one of her dreads around her fingers. She, much like her sister, was pale and blonde, and pretty damn beautiful. Evy’s dreads had multiple colors thrown in with the blonde, though, and she looked like a hippie in her tie-dyed clothes. No one would’ve ever guessed she was a licensed therapist if they didn’t know for sure, and for sure Emil knew, as she’d been his therapist for the last four years.


“Hey, Evy,” he said, stopping by her table.


She startled out of her story and blinked at him, then grinned. “Hey, Emil, wanna sit with me?”


Chapter 9