Toronto, Canada, 2006. A few months after the worst year of the Iraq war. Gabriel Navarro splits his time between his job slinging ink at the Atlantis Ink tattoo parlor, and working on his master’s degree in fine art. Gabe is twenty-two, sure of his beliefs and his artistic integrity, and na?ve enough to think he’ll never have to compromise. And then one night Jake MacLean walks into the shop and changes everything. Jake Maclean is twenty-eight and a veteran American Army pilot. He's been staying with his ex-pat sister in Toronto while he tries to get his life in order. The problem is, he can't. After his disastrous final mission in Iraq, he's overcome with anger and survivor’s guilt, trapped in a losing battle to atone for a failure he’s sure can never be forgiven. Left without hope, he decides to have his memory of the mission tattooed on his back, with the condemning words: God Will Judge Me. He doesn't expect to fall for the tattoo artist. Gabe falls just as quickly and deeply for Jake, though Jake's reluctance to talk about what happened frustrates and worries him. Gabe knows Jake isn't doing well, but accepting Jake’s claims that he's "fine" is far easier than dealing with the frightening truth. But soon it’s horribly clear Jake can’t control his panic attacks or flashes of violence, and he's getting worse. If Gabe can’t help him face his demons, Jake is headed for a crash -- and there’s every chance he’ll take Gabriel down with him.

Black Hawk Tattoo

Gabe sighed inwardly and stood, glancing at his watch as he went behind the counter. It was almost nine and had just gone dark outside, the heat of the day finally surrendering to the marginal cool of the evening. The front entrance was livable now, but the studio upstairs would still be like an oven. With Gabe’s luck, this new customer would want something that would take hours


He bent to put his sketchbook safely back in the cupboard, and when he straightened, Hype was right next to him, her big cow eyes enormous.


“He’s a cop!” she hissed urgently to Gabe in a voice that likely carried right to where the customer was standing, leafing through the flash binders mounted on the wall. “He’s got cop hair!”


Chapter 4