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 ...

Once the fish were in a pot on the stove and the window was open, Emil washed his hands and plopped on the couch. He opened his laptop and went through his email, which was mostly spam and news about Buffy and Willow.


Makai came to sit with him. “I need to check my email. I haven’t done that today.” He hadn’t put his email on his cell because he rarely got emails anyway, so he started up his own laptop, and they sat there side by side, just like the cats were doing on the kitchen floor as they waited for their food to be ready.


“Hey, I have something from Alice,” Makai said, and Emil turned to look at him.


“Yeah, let’s see….” Emil looked back at his own screen, giving Makai privacy, but looked back when Makai gasped. “Kaos has contacted her.”


“She has his contact information here. He just asked her to forward it to me, basically. Wow….” Makai sounded torn.


Emil leaned closer to him without looking at the email, just offering his silent support for now.


Chapter 89