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’d just cleaned his face and hands, mostly, when his mom called.


“Hey, Mom,” Emil answered and leaned his tired body into the bathroom doorframe. Makai was scrubbing his arms in the sink, and the way he used the nail brush on his skin made Emil wince.


“Hello, sweetheart. How’s the painting?” Mom’s voice belied her smile.


“We just got done. Everything is cleared out, and I’m watching Makai butcher his arms to get the paint off them.”


Mom laughed. “All right. I wanted to ask if you had dinner plans? I made a huge batch of potato salad for your dad’s lunches, so if I put together something else, would you like me to drop some off for you?”


Emil smiled, then startled at the realization the food wasn’t making him anxious. “Yeah, any decent protein, and we’ll be good. You don’t have to, of course, we have food here….”


Chapter 59