“Shh … they’ll hear us,” Crux warned as they sneaked to the hidden spot where Noah and Chance had trailed their fathers earlier that day. Noah had bragged that it was the spot The Last Riders’ initiations took place.

“No one is going to hear. Everyone is sleeping. We shouldn’t have brought you anyway. You’re always trying to tag alone when you’re not wanted,” Noah griped.

“Shut up, Noah. Crux is right. You’re making enough noise for Viper to hear us, and he’s farther away.”

“I told him he could come. I had to,” John said, stepping over a dead tree. “He was spending the night with Clint, and he saw me slipping out of the house.”

“I don’t know why I even told you we’re coming tonight. Me and Noah should have come ourselves and told you tomorrow what it was like,” Noah complained.

Crux felt the chill on the back of his neck grow colder the deeper they went into the woods. He nearly fell trying to climb over the tree that John had easily stepped over.

“If you didn’t want me to come along, then why did you bug me all day? If our parents find out he snuck out, we’re going to be grounded for life.”

Crux quit listening to the older boys arguing. “I think I hear something.” He lowered his voice, trying to keep up with John. He didn’t want to get lost in the dark. He was the only one without a flashlight.

“Chickenshit. Keep up, or we’re going to leave you … Here it is.” Noah’s voice had gone from irritated to excited.

Crux hurried forward, slipping through the huge rocks to come out at a clearing on the other side.

“How do they get through there? I barely made it through.” John flashed his light, showing the clearing that was just dirt and mostly rock. “I wonder where that goes?” he asked, stopping the light on the dark woods that led from the other side of the clearing.

“How the hell would I know? Let’s go see—”

“Wait, Noah …” Chance stopped his twin brother. “Let’s go. It’s creepy here.”

“Not you, too! I just want … What’s that?” The flashlight wavered as a shadowy figure came out of the dark where Noah had been about to explore.

Noah and Chance dropped their lights to the ground as boyish screams filled the air. They took off at a run, slipping through the rocks to the other side.

Crux nearly wet himself when the shadow grew closer.

“Run, John!” Crux stood still as John’s light wavered within his frightened grasp.

Noah and Chance’s screams had him just as scared, but he couldn’t leave his best friend behind.

Crux didn’t know whether to run or cry in relief when he saw who bent down to pick up Noah and Chance’s flashlights.

“John, your father is waiting for you on the other side,” his father said, walking toward him to hand him one of the flashlights.

“Do I have to?”

Crux raised the flashlight to see John.

His father laughed. “It’ll be all right. He’s not mad.”

“He never gets mad. He’s going to be disappointed,” John said glumly, walking toward the rocks.

“It could be worse. You could be Noah and Chance. Razer and Knox will be lucky to catch them before they get home they were running so fast.”

Now Crux understood Noah and Chance’s heightened screams when they had come out the other side. If Knox had come out from the dark, he would be returning home with more than wet jeans.

Crux remained where he was as John slipped through the rocks.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he watched his father sit on a large rock.

Crux kept the flashlight pointed on him as his father took something from his pocket. When he saw a flame, Crux curiously stepped closer.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

Crux sniffed the air. “That smells like a cigarette. You don’t smoke.”

“There’re a lot of things I do that you, your sister, and your mother don’t know about.”

“Like what?”

“Those secrets are for when you’re older and not in trouble for doing something you shouldn’t have been doing.”

Crux lowered the flashlight, not wanting to see the disappointment on his father’s face. “I didn’t want to be a tattletale.”

Crux saw the glow of the cigarette grow brighter before becoming a light red.

“I can understand not wanting to betray a friend.”

“They aren’t my friends. They don’t like me. John might a little, but he doesn’t tell me so,” he said dejectedly.

His father laughed. “I bet he doesn’t.”

“Aren’t you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad. I don’t get mad.”

“I’ve seen you mad.”

Crux saw the cigarette glow again.

“What you’ve seen is me letting people see what they want to see. If they want to see me angry, I show them anger. If they want to see me happy, I show them that, too.”

“I don’t understand …”

“You do. You pretend just as well as I do when you’re hurt because your mom shows your sister more attention than you, or when you’re angry when Noah doesn’t want you to hang out with them, or when you’re scared enough to wet yourself but you don’t run.”

“It was an accident,” he mumbled.

“Son, it won’t be the last time you wet yourself because you’ve been scared shitless. I’ve wet myself a couple times, and so have all The Last Riders. I’m not mad. I’m too proud that when Noah and Chance ran, you stayed.”

“I didn’t want to leave John.”

“I know that. That’s why I’m proud of you. You’re much younger than them, but where courage is concerned, you’re ahead of the curve.”

Crux frowned. “What does that mean?”

“That one day, Noah and Chance will be as brave as you are now, but it won’t come until they get older and their experiences shape them. Your courage is a part of you. It will just grow stronger as you get older.”

“How about John? He was brave, too. He didn’t run.”

“No, he didn’t. He’s like you, which I’m sure Shade is going to take into consideration for his punishment, just like I will.”

Crux nodded. He didn’t understand a lot of what his father had said, but he understood he was still going to be punished.

“Are you going to tell Mom?”

“No.” His dad gave a soft laugh. “Then I would have to pretend to be mad at you. I try not to pretend too much around her.”

“Do you pretend around me and Val?”

“No, that’s why I’m having this talk with you now, so when I act differently when others are around, you will know the difference.”

“I wish I had as many friends as you do.”

“You’ll be friends with Noah and Chance when you get older.”

“They make fun of my name.”

“They’re just jealous, which is a good thing. All their fathers are jealous of me,” his father bragged, standing as he threw his cigarette away. “Let’s go. I have to get back to work.”

Crux started toward where the others had gone through.

“This way, Crux. I’m too big to go that way.”

Crux held the flashlight as he walked next to his father, trying hard not to be afraid.

“Don’t let it bother you when they make fun of your name. By the way, blame your mother. I was going to name you Brandon.”

“Ewie. That’s even worse than Crux.”

“A name doesn’t wear the man. A man wears the name. I learned that in the service.”

“I want to go in the Navy like you when I grow up.”

“You can do anything you want to, just do it better than everyone else.”

“I will. Do you think Uncle Knox and Uncle Razer found Noah and Chance?”

“I’m sure they did. I don’t hear them screaming anymore.” He laughed. “By the way, the next time Chance calls you chickenshit, remind him he was the one who shit his pants and ran.”

“They’ll beat me up if I do that!”

“No, they won’t.”

“Yes, they will.”

“No, son, they won’t, because their father would have warned them.”

“What would their father warn them about?”

His father laid a strong hand on his shoulder, guiding him over the dead tree that he had almost fallen over on the way to the initiation spot. “That I will always have your back.”