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 had to make up a reason for Stephanie’s mom to take her to karate this morning so she wouldn’t find out about Jake. Maybe I should’ve just told her, but Molly’s had enough shit to deal with, you know? Maybe I should’ve told her. God, I don’t know.” She put her fingers over her eyes. “I don’t know what to do. I have absolutely no idea what to do. What if he’s dead?” She took a long, trembling breath and dropped her hands. Her eyes were big and helpless when she looked at Gabe. “What if Jake’s dead? What do I do then? What do I tell my little girl?”


“He’s not dead,” Gabe said, despite being terrified of the exact same thing. “He wouldn’t do something like that. He wouldn’t abandon you.”


Chapter 101