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 ...

Makai seemed to catch his expression. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said quietly. “Whatever made you survive, right?”


Emil swallowed hard and nodded. Yeah, that wasn’t a bad way to think about it.


Makai pointed him toward the plates and utensils, and he grabbed them both another beer to drink, not particularly caring if it went with the meal or not.


Once they sat at the small table by the living room window and started to eat, it seemed like most of the heavy stuff was put on hold for the moment. Emil didn’t feel the slightest bit uncomfortable sitting with Makai like this, and the table was smaller and Makai bigger than Evy had been at the diner what felt like only days ago.


“I need some Tylenol after we eat,” Makai said when they were halfway through the meal.


“Yeah. There’s bruising there, and I got knocked pretty well by the debris, even where it didn’t pierce skin.”


Chapter 42