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

“I do say so,” Jake said. “Um…” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he got up instead. “I guess we should go.” He looked guiltily at the sketchbook. “Unless there was any other stuff—?”


“No, not unless you wanted to change anything else.” Gabe snatched up his sketchbook, doing his best to hide the stupid letdown he was feeling. It wasn’t as if he’d been expecting Jake to throw himself at him, but Gabe could’ve done without the skittishness, or Jake suddenly looking anywhere but at Gabe’s face.


“Great,” Jake said. He pulled his sunglasses from where he’d tucked them into his collar but just fiddled with them instead of putting them on. His eyes were still scarily bloodshot, despite how Jake didn’t seem any less sober. It made Gabe feel even worse about accusing him of being drunk earlier. “So, what happens now?”


Chapter 21