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 always tried to get the flash as accurate as possible for the customers, no matter what it was, but with Jake he wanted to get it exactly right. Maybe that was why Gabe was feeling so jittery, waiting for Jake to finally get his ass in gear and walk through the door. Jake had been pretty intense already, describing what he wanted. Gabe didn’t want to let him down.


If he ever bothered to show up, that was. Asshole.


“All right, that’s done,” Dee said. Gabe looked up in time to see her throw a wadded-up piece of paper towel into the wastebasket under the counter. “Weren’t you expecting somebody? That’s why you made Seb take the walk-in, right?” she asked, as if she felt she had to remind Gabe he’d taken advantage of the generosity of her occasional boyfriend.


“I told Gabe he didn’t have to come in today,” Rob said, still reading.


Chapter 14