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

“Well, good,” Gabe said, incredibly relieved. “I like this apartment.” He smiled at his lame joke, but Jake didn’t. Gabe put his hands carefully on Jake’s shoulders. “I’ll finish the ink, Jake.”


“Yeah, I do,” Gabe retorted. “Like I said, I don’t want to help you hurt yourself. But I’m sure as hell not going to let someone else do it. At least this way I know you’ll be safe.” He wanted to slide another joke in there, anything to shake the misery out of Jake’s eyes, but he didn’t know what to say.


“Thank you. I really appreciate this, Gabriel.”


“Yeah, well, don’t. I still think what you’re doing is terrible and unnecessary and wrong, and I never would’ve agreed to this in the first place if I’d known what it was for. But,” he said loudly, slapping his hand over Jake’s mouth, “before you say I don’t have to again, I know that already. And I just said I’d do the ink, and I will. I promise. So don’t bother trying to talk me out of it.”


Chapter 88