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 ...

He had eating issues. He could admit that. There were days that he couldn’t really eat at all. One of the doctors he’d seen after—in the last five years—had even thought he might have anorexia. Spoiler alert: he didn’t. He just had severe trauma when it came to food, and his PTSD sometimes fucked things up for a while.


Today was a good day, so he’d take advantage of that. The thing with his issues was that he knew all about them and had learned to live with what hadn’t gone away completely. It wasn’t easy, but he was coping with the help of Evy, his parents—although they could be a bit stifling—and music. Well, and books, but that went without saying.


While Emil ate and ate, and then had his milkshake, he chatted with Evy about what was going on around town.


“Did your dad tell you about the new guy yet?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with mirth.


Evy laughed. “Yeah, nobody is nottalking about him.”


Chapter 10