*Lokela

By the time Lokela made it back home, his whole body ached. Lunch had been three minutes to scarf down a cold chicken sandwich one of his cousins had dropped off, and forget any other breaks. With Ray gone and several cousins working at other jobs, there weren't enough hands at the shop.

The instant he crossed the threshold, though, energy flooded his muscles. He had all night, and he intended to make it count. Taking the stairs two at a time, he raced to her room. He knocked, because he had learned his lesson. No answer.

She must have been out back, although the other roommates still in town were in the kitchen and living room. Except for his dickhead brother, of course, who trailed in on his heels and went to the kitchen. Lokela rushed up to check his room just in case Ray was waiting in there.

Empty, just like he left it.

He stuck his head out the window. The garden lights were dark.

"Ray!" he hissed. "Are you out there?"

A hesitant knock at his door made him spin. It was Doug, leaning on the doorframe, arms and legs crossed, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"Yeah?" Lokela asked.

"She's gone."

"What the fuck do you mean, she's gone?"

Without waiting for an answer, Lokela shoved passed him, into the hallway. He stormed into her room. The bed was made, her things in the closet, backpack on the floor, jewelry and trinkets on the stand. "What the fuck do you mean she's gone?"

Doug had trailed after him. He held up his hands in surrender. "She asked me to drive her to the airport. She wouldn't say anything else. But I thought you would want to know, since you seem to be looking for her."

It was a sucker-punch to the gut. He hadn't seen it coming. His lungs emptied, and in an instant, his head filled to the point of bursting. Doug clapped his shoulder.

"Are you all right? Just take it easy."

Lokela knocked him away. Where was his phone? She had to have sent him messages. This wasn't possible. But when he took the phone from his pocket, there was nothing from her. The guys crowded at the bottom of the stairs—Felipe, Travis, and Trevor. Miller stood off the to the side, expression dark.

Lokela stumbled down the stairs, numb. "Did she say anything to anyone?"

They shook their heads.

"Some guy showed up this morning to talk to her," Felipe mumbled. He kicked at the flooring.

"Some...guy?" Lokela was ready to bash some guy's head in. "Who the fuck was it?"

"I don't know. I can't keep track of everyone's friends. Look, he rang the bell and asked for her. They talked a few minutes, but it's not like I listened. A little while later, she came down with Doug and they left." Felipe shrugged. "Girls, you know?"

"No, I don't know. Did he hurt her? Say something that made her upset? What the fuck did he look like?"

"Man, you need to calm down." Miller moved to the front the group. "Get it together. She's a grown-up, she can take care of—"

Lokela swung his fist. Miller half dodged, half blocked and plowed his shoulder into Lokela's gut. They went down in a tangle. Lokela tried to get his arm around his brother's neck, and his legs around the rest of him to wrestle him down, but his brother was heavier. His head hit the wooden floor. He jabbed with his elbow and hit something soft. Miller grunted. A knee slammed into Lokela's inner thigh too close to his balls for comfort. He braced on the floor and pushed. Miller cussed him out.

Hands grabbed his arms and shoulders, yanking him one direction. Other hands took Miller, dragging him in the other.

"Fuck you, Mililani!" Lokela shouted. "She should have been at work today! She was the best employee that store ever had, and you know it! If she had been there today, she would be here now!"

"This isn't my fault! I had to fire her, I had no choice. Besides, that's not why she left. If you cared about her so much, why didn't you fucking tell her so?" Miller snapped.

Silence fell as Lokela and Miller took ragged breaths and the other guys drew back in confusion.

"You fired Ray?" Doug asked Miller.

"You like Ray?" Trevor asked, flexing his pecs which were, of course, on display. "But we aren't allowed to date her. Her brother-in-law-guy said so. Don't get me wrong, I would have risked if she liked me, but..."

"Could you not for a minute?" Doug asked. He addressed Miller. "What happened at the store?"

"She gave out a bunch of unauthorized discounts, plus she erased a big reservation. If she had talked to me first about those things, maybe I could have fixed them. But that's not why she left on an airplane," Miller said. "This isn't my fault."

"No, it's mine. I think I fucked this up." Lokela dropped to a crouch, hands in his hair. An image had come to him while Miller was talking. His room wasn't exactly as he left it earlier that day. He spun and bounded up the stairs. At his room, he jumped for the desk and tossed aside the notebooks and loose sheets of scrap paper, looking for a bundle he had left at the bottom of everything else.

It was gone.

The letters, which he had put in an envelope were gone. How had she found them, unless she knew to look for them? The only person who would have mentioned the possibility was Zach.

"No." He knew he sounded pathetic. He raked his hands through his hair again, pulling strands free from the pony tail. "No, fuck me, no."

"We don't get it," Doug said. "What did you do?"

Lokela stared at them, unable to answer. "Call..." He pointed at Miller. "Call Naia, do you have her number? Call and ask if she knows where Ray went."

Miller sniffed, shaking his head, but he took his phone and called. He stepped into the hall. They could hear him say hi and start to ask about Ray before suddenly breaking off. He returned, expression haggard.

"She said for me to suck monkey balls until I choked, but not to take it personally because it's just business," Miller said. "I guess Ray told her what I said about the smoothie shop when I fired her."

"Doug, you're sure you don't know where she went?" Lokela asked.

"I'm sure, and here's my honest answer. Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you, because she has chosen to go and not tell you herself."

"You're right!" He was an idiot. He could at least ask her what had happened and where she went. Lokela dug for his phone, realized it must have fallen on the floor downstairs, and raced to the living room again.

Standing in the doorway to the front lawn, was Zach.

***

*Ray

"Does my righteous anger make me look taller?" Ray asked.

A sigh so deep it must have originated in the basement answered her from across the room. Beth, her very pregnant older sister, was scrubbing the standalone cupboards that separated the living room and kitchen in her and Russell's adorable bungalow.

"My conditions for your stay here still include no drama," Beth said, grunting as she stood. She snapped off her yellow cleaning gloves.

"This isn't drama, this is a legitimate question. Also, does the phrase, "every minute of every day" seem really specific to you or that general tripe?"

Beth's eyes swiveled upwards and she gazed at the ceiling. "Angels, if you are out there, please protect my sister now, as I fear she is in mortal danger of me killing her."

Despite the fact Beth muttered, Russell must have heard her from the bedroom. He rushed in, a stained board with beveled edges for the dresser he was making in his hand. The wood was a glossy warm brown with gold swirls. But not connected to anything else, which Ray knew was a problem. The baby's dresser was supposed to have been finished yesterday so he could work on the cradle. "I'm going to run to the hardware store for some pieces, are you gals all right here?"

Beth swiveled on her heels to shoot lasers with her glare. Nope. Apparently, he hadn't heard she was praying.

Ray, sensing her powers as younger sister were needed in this soon-to-be-mother and father moment, intervened. "She's great. We're great. I was just saying how she shouldn't be doing so much cleaning, she's going to be exhausted. With that in mind, we've decided to go for ice-cream at the beach. You can go to the store."

"Ray, I don't need you—" Beth hissed through clenched teeth.

"But you do need me. You're acting like Mom by scrubbing the fronts of the cabinet doors on your knees. Trust me, you need ice-cream, too."

"I have to get this place ready."

"You have an entire month before the baby comes. Why are you so antsy about cleaning? Let's go."

Russell ducked his head in agreement. "Sure you'll be all right if I take the car? I'll be back in a half an hour, before traffic picks up."

Beth inhaled, fanning her face for a second. "Yes. I will be all right. If Ray doesn't stop talking about her boyfriend drama, though, she will not be all right."

"Awesome-possum," Ray said. "Let's go get those cones.

It was funny that she was on Kauai with her sister and Russell because of an earring. Otherwise, she'd be in Honolulu, heart ripped out and splattered all over the floor. Well, her heart was ripped out here, too. However, it was easier to be mad here, which was good, because the alternative was crying alone in the back of her closet with only Vinnie the Roach for company.

She rubbed her phone's screen as she walked, wondering if she should read Zach's message again. It didn't matter. She had it memorized.

Zach: I'm back and I want us to be together don't believe anything Lokela tells you he's been lying this whole time

She'd dismissed it as total B.S. until Zach showed up at the house.

She'd been struck by how physically attractive he was, by his magnetism when he peered at her from under a row of lashes so thick they could have been glued on fakes.

Fake.

That word summed him up so well. It didn't matter anymore how beautiful he was, standing on the doorstep.

Zach said he'd been writing to her their whole time apart. That he loved her, she was the only one for him. There had never been anyone else.

Walking along the sidewalk by her side, Beth rubbed her rounded belly, muttering a list of all the things she had to do. Folding, cleaning, organizing, sorting, but not painting. Russell had to do the painting and he was behind on his tasks, and it all had to be done before—

Ray took her hand. "Isn't it funny to think that I'm here because of an earring you gave me?"

"I don't want to hear this story again."

Ray clamped her mouth shut. It was true, she'd already told her the story as she sobbed into her hot cocoa the first night she arrived. And the next morning for Russell's benefit.

When Zach had shown up, she was reluctant to talk to him. What if he was a psycho-stalker? A complete nutcase? As it turned out, he was just really, really desperate to win back her love. So much, that he accidently admitted cheating on her while in California. With three different girls.

"But, baby," he sobbed. She rolled her eyes. "You are the only one who understands me, who gets me. I was lost without you, but I know what I have to do now. I've been writing you letters. The whole time I was gone, I wrote."

"Zach, this isn't going to change—"

"I'll give you the letters, all of them and then you'll see. I'm going to talk to Lokela and figure this out for you. It's all for you."

"Okay, you do that, bye!" She tried to shut the door.

He jammed his foot in the frame. "Everything he ever said to you was a lie."

"Funny, he didn't tell me about the girls you slept with. You did that all on your own."

"No—"

She slammed the door and locked it, in case he got any bad ideas. What a moron.

Everything he'd said was rubbish. But not his messages. Then, like now, she couldn't clear her head of the words he'd written.

*** Not good. She's found the letters, and left the island... ***