Does It Hurt?

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of rape, sexual assault, incest, pedophilia, and situations of dubious consent.

Though the novel incorporates the trope of enemies to lovers with Enzo and Sawyer’s relationship, Carlton builds on this arc to show the deeply impactful ways that love can transform an individual’s outlook, both for better and worse. For Sawyer and Enzo, love is a means to overcome their personal defense mechanisms, with Sawyer finding safety and overcoming trauma, and Enzo allowing another person into his life. However, Sawyer, in drawing the connection between herself and Kacey, shows a darker side to this paradigm. Kacey’s difficulty in choosing whether to side with Sylvester or Sawyer and Enzo provides insight into how an abused person can be manipulated into feeling loyalty to their abuser, which evokes further questions over the morality of Sawyer and Enzo’s relationship, as they become lovers despite the abuse that Enzo subjects Sawyer to at first.

Sawyer observes Kacey’s urge to protect Sylvester, the same man who cut out her tongue, sewed her mouth shut, and sexually abused her in captivity for years. Misplaced love can leave an individual dependent upon a person who abuses them.