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 ...

“Look, you don’t want to do this,” Makai blurted out, his gaze half on the gun pointed at him, half scanning the environment.


“This has nothing to do with you, faggot!” At least you couldn’t say Frank Matthews was original.


“I get that it doesn’t, but I can’t let you hurt her,” Makai said in what he hoped was a calm tone.


“Let me? You’re not going to let me?”


Frank moved quickly, like a snake, toward Lizzie who was trying to back away while holding her obviously injured arm.


Makai used the opportunity to grab a heavy-looking vase from a side table. It was heavy, and Makai sent a thought to the universe to give him good aim and lifted it high.


Only a few steps away, Frank lifted his foot to kick Lizzie again, his gun waving at Makai’s approximate direction. He must’ve seen Makai move from the corner of his eye, because he turned quickly, eyes crazy as he took aim.


Chapter 70