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 ...

After they were done eating, Makai grabbed an extra jacket of his and slung it over Emil’s head and shoulders. “I really need to get an umbrella or something,” he said as they stood at the door, mentally readying themselves to open it quickly and dash across the little yard to the shed even faster.


“Rain poncho,” Emil corrected. “More useful in this situation. A stack of them.”


“Because you’d rip them, right?” Makai made an educated guess, smirked, and opened the door. “Run!”


Laughing like children, they dashed through the yard and into the shed where Makai had rigged some lights so he could work even when he couldn’t keep both of the double doors open.


Now he propped one of them partially open, flicked the lights on, and pointed at a spot on one of his workbenches. “Park yourself there and find some good music.”


Chapter 63