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

And because he would never avoid spending time with Molly in her own house he wouldn’t be able to avoid his sister, either. And eventually she’d ask where Gabriel was, and Jake knew he’d end up telling her everything. She already thought he was a waste of skin. What would she do when she had proof she was right?


Kick him out, probably. He didn’t even give a shit about that. No, it’d be the way she looked at him, like she had when she’d found him at the hospital. She’d been so horrified she couldn’t even speak.


Jake couldn’t go into the house. He couldn’t handle it, not tonight, and he was already so far down, he didn’t even feel worse at yet another thing he was too weak to face. He couldn’t hate himself more than this.


Chapter 95