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 ...

They both froze. And then relaxed, chuckled awkwardly, and Makai went to shower.


The casual way Makai had touched him was nice. Easy. Safe.Despite the conditioned way they both had tensed, nothing in Emil’s body or psyche had actually gotten alarmed. It had felt… natural.


He was taking the seeds out of some tomatoes—because who wants those in their salad—when tiny pinpricks started to travel up his leg.


“Oh, ouch, Mouse! Your kid is misbehaving!” he called out and carefully extracted the gray kitten from his pants leg. “No, little girl. You’re going to make someone chop their finger off one day,” he told her and carefully went to place her on the couch where her siblings were wrestling.


Then he finished making the salad and went to sit with the kittens. The shower turned off in the bathroom, and soon Makai walked in, looking much less sweaty and painty.


“Do you mind checking my hair now?” Emil asked, and Makai turned around to go get a comb from the bathroom.


Chapter 60