Cause when you at yo' best, I know that shit hurt

I zipped up my wind breaker and pulled the navy blue Yankees baseball cap down over my hair.

Without these two articles of clothing the wind would have ripped me apart. Category four Hurricane Ida, was only a few miles off of the coast of the Dominican Republic and would reach us by late this afternoon.

Even though she was a good distance away, her affects could be seen and felt already.

Last night during my flight out here, I saw pictures and videos of what she did in the DR. Her strong winds ripped the roof clean off houses, placed the sea in the streets, and struck trees down over power lines, leaving devastation in her wake.

The news stations were calling her the largest hurricane of our time, since there hadn't been one that big since the eighties.

According to them, she'd sit on our tiny islands for a whole thirty hours before she started moving again. There was a small chance that she could decrease to a catergory two after she travelled over Haiti's mountains but, we still had to be prepared for anything.

Most people that could afford it, already left for Florida and other regions with higher land. But for the rest of us locals, we preferred to stay with what was ours.

In the early morning breeze, I quickly walked up the path from my home to the hotel and watched as all my employees scrambled to lock it down. They should be at home with their families or gathering supplies for their households, but instead most of them were here helping me prepare.

I watched as Cara balanced her clipboard in her mouth while she lifted the outside patio furniture into the storage room, in that same instant some of the other guys battered down all the windows with steel shutters and sealed the entire main lobby building.

When she finally looked up, she scurried down towards me,

"Hey, I didn't know you were here already! Why didn't you call me to pick you up from the airport?" She asked out of breath. "I honestly wasn't expecting you until maybe after the storm."

"No, that's alright. I came in late last night. I wouldn't leave y'all here to deal with this without me." I said truthfully. "What's left to do?"

"Well all of the guests are on flights back to their hometowns. Surprisingly, none of them wanted refunds, so I have them on standby for rebooking. I had the guys store everything in the storage sheds and all of the shutters are almost the windows and doors. Drea is securing the back offices and Maggie is packing up the kitchen and restaurant now." She listed off.

I shouldn't have been surprised that she had all of this under control. Cara was definitely a control freak and she flourished during tense situations.

It relieved some of my stress and I had to remember to give her a raise after this.

"Ok cool. Tell Maggie to share all of the food and bottled water between the employees. I don't want anything going to waste especially since you guys are here and if there's anything leftover, I'll drive it down to the hurricane shelter myself."

Cara made a note on her clipboard and nodded. "Got it Laya! Umm...Ryan and some of his crew are down by the beach site and your Grammy's here as well helping. I think you should let them know you're here." She explained anxiously.

Everyone around here were on their toes. Even though we were use to things like this, the nervousness still wafted in the air.

It caused me to stay up all night, that's why I made it out here by six thirty in the morning. I kept thinking of every that could go wrong and what already went wrong...with Dave especially.

"Where are you gonna go during this hurricane Laya?" Cara questioned while studying her to-do list.

I looked up at her and shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna stay in my house and ride it out like everyone else in this area."

Her eyes widened and she quickly tried to explain, "Allaya I know how much this place means to you, but you shouldn't be up here all alone, especially since the house is right on the beach. Girl those storm surges are supposed to reach twenty feet. Unless you a fish or you got some kind of mermaid tail...ine know who 'sposed to survive that."

I chucked quietly and rolled my eyes.

"I'll be fine Cara. Don't worry about me...my mom and I use to stay here by ourselves for every hurricane season."

Cara's mouth opened to argue even more but before she could get the words out, I excused myself to talk to my grandmother. She was busy with helping some of the housekeepers conduct their rounds, checking to see if every room was locked.

"Laya dahling (darling), I thought you wasn't comin' til' next month?" She pulled me into a tight hug.

"Where's Lilo? Please don't tell me you bring my baby here with this hurricane comin'?" She fretted.

"No, no she's with her Nana or her Dad. I know better than to bring her." I offered a small smile. "When you're done, let's go get your stuff so that you can stay with me during the storm." I didn't want her in that big house all alone, plus I lowkey wanted the company.

"Oh no Miss.Ting, I have company to keep me warm during the hurricane." She flaunted with a sway of her hips.

"Company like whooo, Miss. Ma'am?", I mocked her playful tone with a raised brow.

"You ready to go Pam?" A gravely voice came from behind us. It was Mr. Smith, he was our head maintenance man and a long-time friend of my grandmother. I'd always been suspicious of them both when I noticed that he was always fixing things around her home.

"I'll be right there George." She smiled sweetly at him before wiping her hands and patting me on the shoulder. "Stay out of old folks business...ya hear?" And with that she looped her arm into his and walked out of my view.

All I could do was grin after the both of them. I was often worried about her being alone, she's been that way ever since my grandfather died and my aunt moved away.

But it warmed me to know that she had someone to spend time with, and perhaps love. To give her the things that I can not.

Shaking my head, I walked to the back of the property while dodging all of the occupied workers.

I dragged my feet along the white sand, until the construction site came into view. Ryan's voice could also be heard as he barked orders to the men fastening the bungalows with blue tarp and sand bags.

When he say me approaching, his smile widened,

"Whatchu' doin' back here again? Cara said we wasn't gonna see you 'till after the hurricane."

"You know I like to be in the middle of things." I said with a shrug and turned my attention to the site.

This was what I was worried about the most. Considering that the structures hovered over the water and were about seventy-five percent complete, this hurricane could wash it all away in a matter of seconds. Then all of our hard work would've been in vain and my launch date could be pushed back even further.

Ryan must of caught me staring, because he nudged his shoulder with mine,

"Don't worry 'bout this okay?" He extended his arm in the direction of the site. "Imma need you to trust my work...and have a little hope that things will be just fine. Rebuilding is always an option."

"I trust you but I'm not about to underestimate that hurricane." I admitted. "I invested a whole lot into this new phase and if I can be honest with you Ryan..." I looked up at his face. "There ain't gin' be a damn ting I can do, if it's destroyed."

/•/

Sighing, I crossed my legs on my couch with my phone in hand, and watched the weather from the open window. The trees blew vigorously and light rain fell with the arrival of Hurricane Ida.

We finished locking down everything at the hotel about two hours ago. Right when we completed the final checks, local police showed up and made everyone leave to go home.

I scrolled across my Instagram and came across a photo that Dave posted yesterday. It was from Kairi's party and it was clear that someone else was behind the camera. In it, I stood next to her with Lilo in my arms, as we all tried to blow out the five pink candles on her cake. Dave was on the other side of Kai and his face was lit with a rare full smile as he beamed down at the three of us. I continued to swipe left on the post and smiled even more at the adorable photos of Kairi, Lilo, and an intimate off-guard of me. I was laughing at something that Pop must've said, while Maya mugged him while sitting on Senior's lap.

I tried hopelessly to remember what he said and why it was so funny. Sadly, I could only recall what had happened before then.

Pissed wasn't even the word to describe how I felt when I saw Dave and Danielle. It was more of a raging disgust - that she questioned Lilo's paternity and he would let her.

Like I would ever conceive a child with someone else and then go through the trouble of telling Dave that he was the father.

That shit don't even make no sense.

None of it did.

A loud ding from the doorbell took me from the miserable place in my head.

Initially, I thought it was the police, coming to tell me to that I needed to evacuate or maybe even Cara saying that something went wrong at the hotel.

During situations like this, I always thought about the worst that could happen.

Thankfully, it was just Ryan standing there in his work boots, jeans, and tshirt.

"Hey..." he said deeply

"Hey, shouldn't you be home about now ?" I quickly pulled him inside before the wind blew the rain all over my foyer floor.

"Yeah I'm about to go back. I just thought that you might need some company since you'll be here by yourself." He opened my front door again.

I turned my head to the side in confusion. Was he trying to stay here...with me?

But as he pushed it open, a familiar canine nose poked through and shoved his body in the door, before circling my feet then jumping on me.

"Aww Stitch! Look at my boy...hi baby" I kneeled down to dote on him, before he ran out of my hold into the living room, probably to look for Lilo.

"Yeah he's been missing you and I figured that you might miss him too." Ryan grinned up at me.

"I did, thank you so much!" I hugged him out of gratitude.

As I pulled away, a loud howl of wind erupted from outside and Stitch barked at it in return.

I peeked out the window next to the door, "Damn it's getting crazy out there. I hope we don't get too much rain."

"Yeah this the biggest one we've had in a while. I feel sorry for the people that live on the cays. They'll get it the worst since they're surrounded by water. Them sea swells ain't no joke." My heart sunk a bit in my chest, just like the people that lived down there, my home and business was located directly on the beach. The only exception was that at least my house sat on a small hill which elevated it from the sea.

"You sure you gonna be straight out here...alone? If you want, you and Stitch can stay with me until it passes. I got enough room and supplies to last us the whole time." He offered graciously.

I tucked the corner of my bottom lip between my teeth and genuinely considered his offer. I'd truly be fine here, but having the company would be nice. Plus, he'd probably distract me from all the shit I'd eventually have to face in New York.

"I've got Stitch, some leftover supplies from last year, the shutters are on the windows and sandbags are at the backdoor. So we should be fine. But thanks again for asking." I declined his offer.

He smiled back and lightly shook his head to himself, almost as if in defeat.

"You know my number if you need anything, I got you." He opened the front door and walked out, not before turning around to side hug me again, "Y'all be safe."

He jogged down my porch steps and into his red Ford pick-up and I waved to him as he pulled off.

After closing the door, I placed my back to it and sighed heavily.

Not even two minutes after that, my door bell rang again and I sucked my teeth to open it.

What did Ryan want now?

"Ryan I promise you, I'm gonna be fine..." I whined while swinging the door open.

Only this time it wasn't Ryan.

"Who's Ryan?" his deep New York accent drawled.

David Brewster stood on my front porch with a black rain coat over his grey sweats and tee. He wore a baseball cap over his braids and his Louis Vuitton duffel was tucked tightly in his hand.

"Oh for the love God, this ain't happenin'!" I thought to myself.

This had to be the sign that meant that I must never know peace.

"What are you doing here, David?"

"Who's Ryan, Allaya?" He asked again. "And damn you just gon let me stand here while this rain beat on my back?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled him in by his arm. His soaked jacket dropped water all over my floor and his muddy shoes tracked dirt across the walkway.

"Leave the bag there, take off the shoes and the jacket. Lemme go get you a towel." I quickly scampered off to the guest bathroom off the hallway and grabbed a clean white towel from the linen closet.

I dropped it on the floor and with my foot, I clumsily dragged it along to where he was supposed to be standing.

Instead he was in my living room, staring at some photos I had on the wall.

"Didn't I tell you to stay there?" I mumbled while still trying to clean.

"Who is Ryan?" he asked again with seriousness etched in his voice.

My annoyance levels shot up at his repeated question.

Damn, answer my question first nigga.

Instead of saying that it was none of his business or just simply telling him that Ryan was my contractior, I opted for something to make him understand how I felt.

"Lilo's real daddy." I deadpanned and threw the towel at his chest before walking into my kitchen.

"You need to carry ya ass... asking me questions when you...nigga...I'm so over this shit." I mumbled under my breath as I walked away.

"You must have lost yo fuckin' mind." His words rang through the walls of my home. Loud enough to cover the whoosh of the wind, boom of the thunder, and deep enough to make Stitch, who was laying on the floor, growl in suspiciousness.

I could feel it, suddenly the room got so cold that my arms grew goosebumps. The matching sports bra and leggings I wore didn't seem to help either.

Everything that was left unsaid and unresolved would come out now.

Right now.

My anxiety was already through the roof and now the tensions from our torrid breakup two years ago, our heated face-off at the wedding, and every other petty squabble or silent treatment finally manifested into this.

He walked into the kitchen with swiftness, and I turned around to meet him on the other side of the marble island.

Before I knew it, both of my knees were on top of it and I stood up to match his height.

"No! I lost my mind when I found out that you and my father knew each other and was doing dirty shit behind my back! I really lost my damn mind when you threatened me and my business over our child! And I definitely...lost my fucking mind...when you and your trifling ass sister tried to give OUR CHILD a paternity test without my consent!" I screamed back at him.

I was halfway over the table with my fingers pointed in his face. My hair proabably looked ballistic, as curly tendrils fell over my forehead and in my eyes.

My chest heaved with every dangerous breath I took. I didn't know which one would be my last, because by the way he looked at me from the other side, I should've known that I crossed a line.

Nothing on him moved, he didn't even blink as my eyes searched his for some sort of rage to match my own.

'Cause now I wanted to fight. After all, this is what needed to happen right?

However, he wasn't even giving me what I expected...what I wanted.

I carefully removed one knee at a time from the countertop and lowered myself back onto the wooden floor. With the still silence between us, I finally noticed how dark it had gotten and the noise of wind violently pushing the waves onto the sandy shore.

The small battery powered radio that my mom kept for hurricanes, was propped on the table between us. The radio announcer's voice seeped through the speakers. I could barely understand what he said, but I did hear:

"Hurricane Ida is a mere 20 miles from the coast of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and should be here within the hour."

While the staring match between Dave and I continued, I lifted my hand to turn it off.

Finally speaking on sturdy breath, I asked again,

"Why are you even here?" I dragged the words to reflect my weariness.

I noticed the slight clenching of his jaw and the ticking in his mind, as he sorted his thoughts to form words.

An entire minute past, I know because I counted sixty seconds in my head before he opened his mouth.

His voice came out deep and low at first and the entire time he spoke, his eyes continued to bore into mine.

"I came here for you." He began. "I didn't want you to be stuck down here by yourself. I thought that you might need help. So I called my pilot and took the risky flight out here. I also came because I wasn't gonna let the shit that happened yesterday end there." He paused for a moment and unfolded his arms, then leaned forward on the island. "I'm here...Laya, to tell you I didn't even know Danielle was gon do some dumb shit like that. I tried to stop her before you came downstairs but it was too late."

"Ohh." the word floated around aimlessly in my head.

My tongue was curled into the roof of my mouth and I couldn't bring myself to speak.

"This fucked up cycle we in gotta stop."

I looked up at him with confused eyes. What was he talking about?

Almost as if he heard my question, he answered.