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“Nah, he said he’d do it in the morning,” Alex says. “But I know the drill.”

“Remember that time Matt almost shot his own foot off?” Austen asks, laughing.

Matt groans. “It was my first time. Can we please let that die?”

“No lie, I thought you were gonna pass out,” Alex adds. “You went so pale.”

“I didn’t almost shoot my foot off,” Matt protests. “I just forgot to check the safety.”

“And pointed it at the ground,” Austen finishes. “Where your foot was.”

Cameron laughs, and I instantly relax.

“What about you?” Austen asks Cameron. “You hunt before?”

“A little,” Cameron says. “My dad took me a few times when I was younger. Nothing like this though.”

“This place is straight up paradise,” Austen says. “Luc’s family has owned it for like a hundred years or something.”

“Longer,” I correct. “Since before the Civil War.”

We’re shotgunning beers on the porch as it gets dark. The temperature has dropped and our breaths come out in white puffs, but no one seems to care. Everyone’s laughing and joking, talking about the final score of the game we mostly missed.

“I’m telling you, if they’d put in the backup quarterback in the third quarter, they would’ve won,” Austen insists.

“That’s literally the dumbest take I’ve ever heard,” Alex says. “The backup can’t throw for shit.”

“He’s got a better arm than⁠—”

“He has zero accuracy,” Matt interrupts. “Come on, man.”

Cameron’s cheeks are turning red, and he’s definitely drunk. But he’s smiling a lot, being good-natured, easy. He asks questions when the guys tell stories, showing he’s interested, engaged. He laughs at all the right parts. He’s so good at this. At performing. At being exactly what people expect. Just like me.

“Remember last year when Billy found that massive hog track? And we tracked it for like four hours?” Matt says.

“And never found the thing,” Alex finishes. “That was brutal.”

“Billy said it was probably the same one from two years ago. The one that got away from Dad.” I add.

“Your dad was so pissed,” Austen says, laughing. “I’ve never seen him that mad.”

I feel my stomach tighten at the mention, but I keep my face neutral. “Yeah, he doesn’t like losing.”

We’re still on the porch when I hear another vehicle approaching. A black Escalade rolls closer and Liam pops out. The driver hands him his luggage, and Liam thanks him before dragging it all toward the porch.

“Holy shit, Luc! This is awesome!” Liam yells.

Matt and Alex start bouncing up and down. They know him from the Hayworth frat parties.

“Dude! Come get a beer!” Matt calls out.

Liam bounds up the steps, leaving his bags behind. Cameron stumbles inside to greet him, and I wait on the porch, hearing another vehicle approach.

This one is a large SUV, a black Suburban with mud splattered on the wheel wells. Billy is driving, and my father is in the passenger seat.

My heartbeat pounds in my ears.

There’s so much at stake here. I need Dad to meet Cameron. I don’t know why, but I do. Dad will expect me to be the Lucien he knows, the son he raised. The son who isn’t weak.