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 stood first and kept his hands ready as he watched Jake get up, in case Gabe had to catch him. Some clients dropped like bricks when the endorphins or stress or just hours of mostly sitting still caught up with them, but Jake climbed to his feet just fine.


“When should I come back?” he asked as he faced Gabe and put on his shirt. The skin of his abdomen stretched as he moved, making the scar rise and fall at his side. Then the cloth slid down and everything was hidden. Outwardly, Jake looked like nothing had happened to him, but Gabe knew exactly where the tattoo was, and the scar.


Funny, Gabe thought, how he could know so much about a man’s skin—the texture, the heat of it, the firmness of the muscles it covered, and how it slid over his too prominent bones—but so little about anything beneath it. Jake’s mind and history, his memories, were as concealed inside him as his heart.


Chapter 38