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

Jake squirmed and ducked his head to pull his mouth away. “That tickles,” he said, though he didn’t sound very unhappy about it. He let his hands drift to Gabe’s shoulders, stroking the pads of his thumbs over Gabe’s collarbones.


“Sorry.” Gabe stopped moving his fingers but didn’t let go. Jake didn’t move either, so they just stood there and smiled goofily at each other.


“Hi. It’s good to see you. I wasn’t expecting you until four.”


Jake’s face fell. “I know. Sorry about that. I would’ve been here later, but I didn’t want to hang out at my sister’s place.”


“Bitched you out, huh?” Gabe asked, trying to make it a joke.


Jake just shrugged. He let go of Gabe to run his fingers through his wet hair, scattering raindrops. “Shit happens.”


“I’m fine.” Jake nodded, but this close it was easy for Gabe to see the lack of focus in his expression. It was very slight, but miserably familiar.


Chapter 56