Chapter 1
Riot
Seven Years Later:
“Riot, can you sign my permission slip?”
I eyed Wynter as I flipped the eggs in the pan. The toaster popped before I could answer. Hawk’s waffle was ready. I grabbed his blue plate, the only one he’d use right now, and tossed it on there.
“What permission slip?” I was usually good at keeping track of all the kids’ stuff, but I was a little distracted today. I had gotten a big commission for a piece and I was already planning it out.
Wynter rolled her eyes, her lips pursed in annoyance.
She was thirteen and full of attitude. I tried to remember if I’d been so .
. . emotional at thirteen, but I’d been too busy caring for an infant—her—and a toddler—Knox—to have time to give in to my feelings.
At times like this, I had to remember this was what I wanted: the kids to have a chance to be kids.
“For the art museum, remember? Today is the last day I can bring it in. Oh, and I need thirty bucks for it.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. Of course she did. There’d been a time that would have sent me into a spiral of panic, but, well, things were okay now. Better than okay. Good even. Or at least getting there. The only worry now was having cash on hand.
“You should’ve asked Koa before he left. He usually has cash on him.”
Wynter just shrugged.
I scooped up Hawk as he ran past, holding his favorite airplane toy, and popped him in his booster seat. At four, he was starting to outgrow it, but I was going to keep him strapped in for meals for as long as possible. I pushed him in and then placed his plate in front of him.
“Here you go, bud.”
He looked at his waffle, which was plain because it was the only way he ate it, and then did the sign for milk. “Sure thing. You want your airplane cup?”
He nodded but still wouldn’t look at me. “Coming right up.”
Wynter was standing at the edge of the kitchen, her hands on her hips. The eggs were burning, but of course she didn’t bother to do anything about that.
“You could help, you know,” I told her sarcastically as I grabbed the spatula and placed the fried eggs onto a plate.
“Permission slip, Riot. I don’t want to miss this.”
I didn’t want her to miss it either. Art was the one thing Wynter and I had in common these days. I sighed. “Bring it to me. You have to ask Knox if he has cash. Or, you know, give me more notice than . . .” I glanced at the clock. “Ten minutes before you leave.”
As if on cue, Knox came down the hallway holding our eighteen-month-old brother, Storm, in his arms. Storm was still wearing his pajamas, a onesie with little cows on it, and was sucking furiously on his binkie.
“Cash for what? Who needs cash these days?”
I took Storm from him, kissing the baby’s cheek noisily, enjoying his giggles.
I wished I could say I’d been surprised when I’d gotten a call nearly two years ago telling me Mom was pregnant, back in jail, and asking if I could take the baby when he was born, but I hadn’t been.
Storm was the first one of my siblings I had gotten custody of at birth, but he wasn’t the only one who’d come to me in the last seven years.
It’d become something of a running joke.
“Your sister. For a class trip. And today is the last day she can pay, apparently.”
Knox huffed before walking into the kitchen. He grabbed three bowls out of the cabinet and the cereal, getting breakfast ready for himself and the twins. “Sorry. I got nothing. Did you ask Koa?”
“He’s at therapy with Cruz. I’ll text him. Maybe he can swing by the middle school after dropping him off.” I grabbed Hawk’s favorite cup and poured his milk into it. Hawk signed, “Thank you,” putting down his waffle and grabbing the handles.
“Milk!” Storm yelled, grabbing my shirt with his chubby hands.
“Coming right up, Stormy. Do you want a banana?” It was Storm’s favorite food these days.
“Nana!”
Wynter stomped back in the room and shoved a piece of paper in my face.
“Thanks,” I told her drily. “Can you get Rebel and Rumor out here so they’re not late?
Again.” I’d never seen eight-year-olds that slept as much as they did.
I’d be concerned if they hadn’t always been like that.
Even as babies, they’d slept through the night almost instantly.
At the time, I’d just been so fucking grateful, I hadn’t even thought to be worried.
The twins had missed their bus twice this week already, but today I couldn’t take them to school. I had an early class, and I wouldn’t ask Knox to drop them off and be late, even if he wouldn’t mind.
Wynter sighed heavily, but turned and walked down the hallway. “Hey, idiots! Time to get your lazy butts up.”
Knox snorted. “Well, that’s one way of doing it.”
I grunted in agreement. Smoothing out the crumpled paper, I quickly scanned it over to make sure I knew all the details before signing it.
“Here you go. If Koa can’t get you the money, I’ll text your teacher, see if I can Venmo it.”
Wynter’s lips pressed into a thin line, but finally she nodded. “Alright, that’s good, I guess. Thanks.” She checked the time. “I have to go. Melodie’s mom is picking me up after school so we can work on the school project.”
That, I remembered. “Sounds good. I’ll pick you up around six from her house.”
“Okay.” She grabbed her backpack and threw it over her shoulder and started to head to the door.
“Wait, Wyn, you didn’t eat anything.”
“I have a protein bar in my bag. I’ll eat it on the bus.” I wanted to argue that she needed more than that, but she was already gone.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.
“Oooh, Riot said a bad word!” Rumor yelled, barreling down the stairs and into the kitchen, still wearing his pajamas.
Rebel, the quieter of the two, trailed behind him, giggling.
Rumor reached the counter where Knox had poured them both bowls of cereal, but I stopped him, spinning him around to the bathroom. “Teeth first. You too, Bel.”
“But I’m hungry,” Rumor whined.
“And you can eat in two minutes. But I don’t want you to go to school without brushing your teeth again, and we both know you’ll conveniently forget.”
“Don’t get why we have to brush them twice a day, anyway. It’s too much,” Rumor complained. Thankfully, Bel was grabbing his hand and dragging him away.
“Do you want them to fall out?” Knox yelled loudly after them.
“Yeah! That would be so cool! Then I could have fake teeth like a grandpa!” That was the last thing I heard before the bathroom door closed.
“Where the hell did he get that from?” I asked Knox.
I put Storm in his booster seat with his banana, half a waffle, some blueberries, and of course a sippy cup of milk, and then sat next to him to eat my now cold eggs.
Hawk had finished eating and was back to quietly playing with his airplane, but he wasn’t getting fussy so I let him be.
Knox shrugged and took a seat next to me. “I have no idea. It’s not like we have grandparents he’s ever seen.”
In the strictest sense of the word, we did have grandparents.
I knew Mom’s parents were still alive, but they’d washed their hands of her and her whole branch of the family tree years ago.
I had vague memories of them when I’d been really little, but by the time Knox and Wynter had been in the picture, they’d been long gone.
I knew nothing about my dad’s family. They could be my next-door neighbors for all I knew.
The twins had never met any of them and they didn’t even remember Mom; they’d been too little.
All they knew as parents were Koa and me.
I decided not to bother texting Koa about the money. It was homecoming week and he was busy as hell. Instead, I messaged Wynter’s homeroom teacher and was glad when she came back quickly with her Venmo. One thing out of the way.
The twins ran back in a few minutes later, and there was about five minutes of peace as we all ate.
Chaos reigned shortly after as we mad-dashed to get everyone dressed and out the door for school.
Knox was a lifesaver and waited at the bus stop with the twins every morning, along with Cruz on non-therapy days, while I dropped Hawk and Storm off at daycare before heading into work.
As a teacher, Koa was usually gone before all of us, but he always took Cruz to therapy, taking that off my plate.
I kissed Rebel and Rumor goodbye, much to their annoyance, squeezed Knox’s shoulder, and then grabbed the little ones and headed to the car, sending out a silent thanks to the big ass SUV we now had.
When I’d first gotten custody, I hadn’t owned a car at all, so all we’d had was the public bus and Koa’s old hand-me-down Corolla that he had gotten from his aunt on his seventeenth birthday, before all the shit had gone down. It had fucking sucked.
Now, I had a Toyota Sequoia and loved it. Koa had a truck, and even Knox had saved up for an old Honda. Three drivers, three vehicles, and plenty of room for two car seats. The nine of us could all go to places together as long as at least two of us drove.
I didn’t get a chance to check my phone until after the little ones were dropped off and I was sitting in the parking lot of work. I wasn’t surprised to see a text from my best friend.