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 ...

“Could you go take care of Mouse and the babies?” he asked, and the nurse who was doing something with his IV froze and then turned to look at him.


“She’s a cat,” Makai said, as if that explained everything.


“A gray cat,” Emil added for her benefit. “And of course. I think… weren’t you going to the Target tomorrow? What if…?” He swallowed hard and looked at the soda can in his hands. “What if I take your truck tomorrow and drive here to get you? I want to go to Target too, so….”


The sheriff fidgeted in the seat he’d reclaimed and Makai looked at him.


He didn’t want to ask the man if he was allowed to hang out with his son, but fuck it, the situation was annoying as it was.


He didn’t have to even open his mouth, because Sheriff Newman lifted his hands in surrender and gave them a hint of a smile. “Don’t look at me. Your choice.”


“If you feel comfortable driving the thing, then sure,” Makai told Emil.


Chapter 35