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

“That’s probably a good thing.” Gabriel took Jake’s closer hand and just held it. “You okay?” he asked again.


“Yeah.” Jake finally managed a smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thank you for waking me up.”


“Don’t worry about it. Seriously. Do you think you could go back to sleep?”


Jake blinked. “Later than I figured.” Normally he couldn’t sleep more than about four hours at a time, but tonight he’d managed a little more than six. He still felt as tired as if he hadn’t slept at all, though, like his body was suddenly trying to make up for all of it at once. He yawned before he could help himself and then smiled sheepishly when Gabriel laughed. “I feel like I could.” He let out a small breath. “I’ll probably have another nightmare.”


Gabriel shrugged. “Then I’ll wake you up again. No big deal.”


Chapter 63