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

It was apparent Jake was doing his best notto actually look at the picture, which meant that what he’d just said made no sense.


“I said—!” Jake clapped his mouth shut on the near shout and looked away, down at the floor. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry. It’s just…” He took a breath and looked up again with a thin, apologetic smile that vanished under his sunglasses. “There’s nothing wrong with the picture. Honest.”


“Okay,” Gabe said. He wasn’t sure he believed Jake, but he wasn’t going to push it. Maybe Jake really was buzzed, and that was why he was acting like this. Then again, the night before he’d been pretty on edge, too; maybe he was just on edge all the time. “Um…you said there was some stuff you still wanted?”


“Yeah,” Jake said. He might’ve been looking at Gabe, but with his shades it was impossible to tell. He didn’t say anything else.


Chapter 15