Kyle
A few days later, I sat at my computer, knowing it was time to write the chapter I'd planned to title 'Confessions.' I had to stop there because while I could imagine what to write, the events had not yet happened. I knew the time had come and weighed my options. Surely my family and friends would read the book they'd starred in and know where every word came from. The possibility that my new novel might end up forever stored in the memory of my computer was very real.
I felt justified in my secrecy, but that wouldn't last for long. If I'd told them up front, I feared that it would tarnish their actions. I also had no idea where the plot was going. The whole thing could have turned out kind of disjointed, but either way I had to have their permission to submit the manuscript.
Sitting at my keyboard, bathed in the morning sunlight streaming through the window, I called Leonard. He was at work, so I had to be quick. When he picked up the phone, I told him I'd be dropping off a manuscript that I wanted him to read. "Why me? You've never asked me to do that before."
Because of our past relationship, Leonard was the only man I could never be vague with. "Well… you are a character in the book. I'd like to submit it to my agent, but I'm going to ask all the participants to read it first. I changed all the names, but you'll know who's who."
"You know how I feel about you telling anybody about what we do," he said with the volume turned up.
Knowing he was verging on anger, I assured him that there was no reason that anyone, but our inner circle would recognize the characters. "Okay, I'll be home around six. Drop it by then. Gotta go."
"Okay, I'll drop it by tonight. See you later."
My boys would be home later in the day. I didn't expect them until about seven. I spent the next hour using the find function of my writing program to make sure none of the original names were still part of the manuscript. I'd checked before, but I owed it to everyone to make doubly sure.
My printer was fast, but not super-fast. It took a while to print out each of the manuscripts. I bound them with heavy-duty clips and stacked them on the coffee table in the living room. I went back to my keyboard and wrote a portion of the 'Confessions' chapter. Once that was completed I hit the save button and suffered through the rest of the day. I was unable to write on my other projects but worked on edits instead. My creative genes were shot for the day.
When the boys came home, they were later than I'd expected. Both of them arrived within a few minutes of one another. Preston was carrying a bag of take out. We'd grown used to this arrangement on days they worked later than normal. I let them decide since they were doing the cooking.
Once the food was resting in the kitchen, I set them down for a talk. "Boys, you don't know this, but ever since I first met Preston I've kept detailed notes on his progression and then everything I knew about his friends. You two both play major roles. Jake and Robert and Leonard and Alex are in there too. I turned those notes into a novel all about us. Originally, I used our real names just to make it easier to write, but today I changed all of the names. I printed out manuscripts for you to read. Please read them when you can. Feel free to make notes on the pages to add things I might not have thought of, or delete things you feel are inappropriate. When everyone is done, I'll meet with you individually and get your input."
Preston and Dexter looked at each other and each of them broke into laughter. "We know all about it," Dexter said. "We've known for a while."
"How?"
Preston blurted out, "You should have seen your face when Dexter told you we knew. Look, you leave your screen open all the time and sometimes we're curious. I don't usually stop and read, but it's hard not to miss the table of contents on the left. The chapter titles are a dead giveaway. Besides that, Jake heard about it today and gave us both a call."
I'd been so nervous it hadn't occurred to me that I'd have been better off to tell my boys before Leonard. He told Alex and the rest was history.
"You don't have to worry." I said. "I wrote it under a pen name. I won't have the advantage of selling to readers who already buy my other books, but I really wanted to keep this record for our sake. We might as well make some money on it. As long as I don't go telling everyone who we actually are there's no way they'll put it together." I had copies for each of them sitting on the dining room table.
Dexter said he wanted to eat before he dove into it and we all headed to the kitchen.
*~*~*
Over the next few days, I was on pins and needles. I tried to keep it concealed because no Dom wants to appear nervous or weak to his subs.
Leonard was the first to respond. "I come out looking pretty good in all this, so I don't have any issues. I made a few notes though and I'd like to give them to you tonight in class."
The next day my boys finished the book after work. They had to read it in bursts because they had so little free time. Watching them read had been unnerving. If I knew they were reading, I just left the room. I had plenty to keep me busy, going through the edits that were already submitted to me by Leonard and Alex.
When both of them were done, we all sat down. I'd planned to do this individually, but they insisted on doing this together. One by one they told me the things they wanted me to add, which I didn't expect. The prospect of adding things that I'd left out, thinking they'd object, excited me. I didn't want to embarrass anyone in our circle of friends, but now that I had their approval, I was glad to edit them in.
I worked on edits for the next few days. In some cases, it was easy, but for some of them, whole sections needed to be rewritten. When the final document was ready I gave each of them another copy. When we got together in our self-defense class, the boys wasted no time teasing one another. They all had thick skin and I was fairly certain they'd already shared most of what I'd written about.
Within a few days, I had my go ahead from everyone involved. I'd read the final copy for corrections and it was ready to go. I attached it to an email addressed to my agent, Glenn Bass, took a deep breath and hit the send button.