Does It Hurt?

Sawyer Bennett spots a distant relative at an American airport terminal, and the recognition is mutual.

Sawyer Bennett spots a distant relative at an American airport terminal, and the recognition is mutual. Six years into running from her past, she's on the verge of being exposed. She ditches her Indonesia flight, buys a disguise in the gift shop—hoodie, sweats, ball cap—and pays cash for the next departure: Australia. The ticket agent is slow, the security line is long, and they nearly close the gate before she arrives. Her heart doesn't settle until wheels leave tarmac, and even then, she half-expects air traffic control to ground the plane. This is not escape. This is continuation—another day being Sawyer Bennett, a name she'd rather bury than carry.

A fugitive finds her first real friend at a bus stop

Three weeks into Port Valen, Sawyer lives from a buttery-yellow Volkswagen van she calls Senile Suzy, bleaches her brown roots blonde, and survives by stealing men's identities—sleeping with them to access their documents. She carries a stolen gun, a fake ID under the name Jamie Harris, and enough self-loathing to fill the ocean she's come to love. A pregnancy scare sends her spiraling, but the test returns negative. At a bus stop, she meets Simon, an older man with a homemade tattoo kit who reads her loneliness on sight. He pokes the words Fuck You in black octopus ink onto her thigh—her first tattoo, her first real friendship, and the first warmth she's felt in years. He tells her they'll cross paths again.

A shark expert and an identity thief trade barbs and bodies

Sawyer meets Enzo at a near-empty bar in Port Valen. He's Italian, six-four, built with devastating precision, works as a great white shark researcher, and looks permanently furious. She introduces herself as Jamie. Their chemistry is caustic and immediate—she tells him he could get her pregnant with a single look; he tells her not to sniff him. He takes her to a hidden waterfall, where behind the thundering curtain of water, he brings her to an orgasm that rewrites her understanding of pleasure. They agree: one night, then strangers again. He refuses to kiss her lips—an intimacy he grants no one. She decides she can live with that limitation. She shouldn't have to resist him for long.

She photographs his identity documents and disappears before dawn Sawyer wakes before Enzo, memorizes the landscape of his sleeping body, then gets to work. She photographs his wallet, picks the lock on his desk drawer, and finds his Italian equivalent of a social security card alongside business documents. Within a week and a half, a new credit card arrives in Enzo's name. She…