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 ...

“Did you bust any stitches?” Emil asked quietly, waiting for him to go back to his seat before moving to the pantry.


“No, I don’t think so. Just forgot that I had them for a while.” Makai winced a bit, feeling the throb on his skin, and drank some more coffee. “It’ll be fine. I don’t feel them bleeding.”


Emil gave him a look of “if you say so,” and they got to work.


Half an hour later, most things were organized exactly how Makai wanted them and/or where Emil saw fit to place them.


Makai noticed the bag of oranges he’d bought and decided that since he didn’t have a fruit bowl, he could just hang them in the pantry baskets. He grabbed the bag, deciding that the black basket could hold fruit.


He stepped to the pantry and startled Emil, who jerked back, hit his shoulder on the doorframe, and yelped. And then went completely blank. It was as if someone had turned something off in Emil’s brain. His eyes were open, but it seemed like he didn’t see anything.


Chapter 39