Worth The Risk (18+)

31

Avery

He leads me into his office and sits down at his desk, leaving me near the door. I stare at him in confusion.

"Nick... I-"

"Just give me a minute." he says calmly.

I stand there for a moment and wait. He stands up, and nervously fiddles with his fingers.

Shit... He's going to reject me.

"I... I haven't been completely honest with you." he says.

"What?"

My heart sinks again. If this fucker tells me he's got a kid... Or a wife or something... I'm going to jail.

"I don't really know how to do this so... Just come look." he says, gesturing to his desk chair for me to sit.

I hesitantly step over to him and sit in the chair, looking at the screen. As I examine it, I realize it seems to be a rough copy of a book.

"Nick, what am I looking at?"

He sighs.

"I don't do marketing for my backup job... I'm a writer."

"Okay..."

"So, why didn't you tell me that before?" I ask.

Does he write about something awful like murder fantasies? Oh lord.

"Because I don't typically tell people about it. The things I write about... Well... I just like to keep it secret since I'm still a teacher. I write anonymously."

I take another glance at the writing, recognizing the material... Holy shit.

"Anonymous? Wait... Are y-"

"I'm L.N.D."

I'm sorry... What?

"How? No way. There's no way you're L.N.D."

"I am. Look."

He grabs the mouse and opens a folder with tons of rough edits of books... All L.N.D books.

No. There's no way. I'm dreaming, right?

"Nick... I- I don't understand."

"I've kept this private because I didn't want to risk losing my job as a teacher, or even risk my students just viewing me differently if they knew what I wrote about. Plus, I don't know how my family would react."

I'm still speechless. This is difficult to process.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner... But obviously this isn't something I tell everyone. The only people who know are the people I work with for publishing, and Ian. He found out accidentally."

"So... You're my favorite author?" I say in disbelief.

"I guess so."

"Oh god... I said L.N.D had to be a woman, right in front of you. I'm so sorry." I apologize frantically. That must've hurt to hear.

"It's alright, Avery. I understand where you were coming from. I know you didn't mean it in a rude way."

"I just... I can't believe this. I'm still confused."

"Are you upset?" he asks.

"What? No. I- I don't think so. I mean, I'm upset that you kept it from me... But I understand why you did." I reply.

"But it does make me wonder if you're hiding anything else..." I admit.

I do completely understand why he hid being an author, given what he writes about. But I think anybody else would also question what else a person hides when they're able to hide something so huge.