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 ...

“A little, yeah.” Makai didn’t move, though. Instead he looked at possible ways to go and frowned. “I gotta come much closer to get past you, though, if that’s okay?”


Emil’s insides clenched in shame, and he bit his lower lip, then forced himself to look at Makai in the eyes. “Look, I wanted to say sorry. About the other day. How I… left things. How I must’ve looked.” He couldn’t hold the awkward eye contact any longer and glanced at the bread instead. “I know better, but you’re honestly the first person who ever… got it. Just like that, and so fast.”


Chapter 21