Permanent Damage

CHASE “Are you there?” Mom asked.“Yeah. Yeah.” I put the phone back to my ear. “Got a little distracted. I’ll call you later.”I ended the call and looked over at the tattoo artist finishing up with the girl.“You’re next or you’re watching, kid? ’Cause I’m taking walk-ins until one and then I’m going back to the actual shop, where I have climate control and *dignity*.”“I’m next.”“I’ll be waiting for you upstairs, Chase. Pussy’s all yours tonight.” The girl smiled and walked out.I scoffed.The tattoo setup was in the garage.Sadie had hired him the same way she’d hired the DJ, the fog machine, the photo booth, and the kiddie pool. Sadie Vance’s parties came with infrastructure, and tonight’s included a guest tattoo artist working out of the detached garage the hockey house used for storage and bad decisions.He was set up under a single shop light—the kind that buzzed the way fluorescent lights in institutional buildings always buzzed, constant and accusatory. A black vinyl chair

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SLOANEThe plan, as of 6:44 a.m. this morning, was simple.Drive north. Eleven a.m. The storage room behind the equipment closet at the east entrance—the one with the warped handle and no cameras. Tell Chase everything. The burner. The messages. *I know you’ve been fucking your stepbrother.* *Tick tock.* The forged media request. The fact that the words *contained* and *safe* were doing a lot of heavy lifting for a girl with a camera’s worth of leverage pointed at her ribs.Then drive home. Tell no one. Let the blackmailer watch me be boring, and outlast the game.Simple.At 7:41 a.m., as I was pulling my coat off the hook, my phone rang.Not a text tone. Not a buzz. An actual, analog, *I know you’re already dressed and this is not a coincidence* phone call, flashing across the screen in letters that felt personally directed:**MR. CASTILLO — EASTLAKE LEDGER**I stared at it the way a person stares at a meteor in the sky. Pretty. Imminent. Full of implications.I picked up.“Morning.”

All Chapters of Hate Should Be A Hockey Term: Chapter 101 - Chapter 102

Permanent Damage

One Question