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’ll pick her up from school tomorrow,” Jake said tightly, pissed at himself for giving in even that much.


“Promise?” Alice asked caustically saccharine. “Don’t do my daughter any favors. You don’t need us? Well, we don’t need you. Go do whatever the hell you want.” She walked around him to clomp her way up the stairs.


Jake had never intended to upset Molly. He wanted to believe that if he’d been able to think about anything besides getting the hell away from the smoke, he would’ve remembered how anxious Molly got and at least called.


But he wasn’t sure that was true. Maybe he really was just like Isaac, exactly like all the bad things his sister thought about him.


He gritted his teeth and limped up the stairs.


Alice was doing something that required slamming a lot of drawers open and closed in the bedroom, so Jake was pretty sure she couldn’t hear him. Feeling childish as fuck, he walked carefully to Molly’s bedroom so he wouldn’t make the floor creak.


Chapter 54