“You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Kendra,” he said with his most convincing smile. “I won’t tell a soul, and I recommend you do the same.”
“Yeah, me, too. What you said. Well, I guess I should go home now. My doggy’s home alone and I – “
She looked openly at his erection, which refused to go away.
“What’s that?” she said, pointing a finger at it.
“Uh… “ Regent had never found himself faced with that particular question before. “I have an erection. My penis is hard.”
“How come?”
“Because I was looking at you. You made me this way.”
She grinned. “I did?”
“Yes. That’s how men will always react to you, Kendra.”
She stepped forward and put a hand on it, squeezed it. There was nothing sexual about the gesture – it was a gesture of curiosity.
“It’s very hard,” she said.
“Yes, it gets hard when I get excited.”
“Yeah, I know, I read about it in an encyclopedia online. So I excited you?”
He closed his eyes a moment. “You… excited me… so … much, Kendra.” His voice was a tremulous whisper. “I want you right now. I want you here and now.”
She laughed as she turned and headed out of the trailer.
Kendra returned to the trailer to find that Dexter had left another little puddle in the kitchen.
“Dexter?” she said, looking around for him. She saw him, finally – peering around the far edge of the couch looking terribly guilty. “I’m sorry, Dexter. I shouldn’a left you alone so long. C’mere, boy, c’mere, you’re not in trouble.”
Dexter cautiously crept from around the couch’s corner and came to her with his tail between his legs. She reached down and picked him up, and he licked her face while she held him in her arms. Pretty soon, Dexter’s guilt was forgotten, and he was wriggling in her arms, so she put him down.
As she cleaned up the puddle, she thought about what she had just done.
She’d had to stop taking pictures because she’d suddenly – out of nowhere, and very unexpectedly – become aware of the fact that she was naked. Well, she had panties on, but that was all. That was pretty much naked as far as Kendra was concerned. Suddenly, she was naked in this room with this total stranger, and she was ashamed of herself. It was like in one of those dreams she had sometimes where she found herself at school in her underwear, or completely naked. It was a feeling of such intense vulnerability that it had frightened Kendra for a moment. She’d needed to get her clothes back on, that was all, and as soon as she did, she felt okay again. Once she was outside, it was all gone, that feeling of utter helplessness, the chilling awareness of her nudity – she was fine.
“Maybe you’ll be more comfortable the next time we do this, you think?” Mr. Regent said at the door of his trailer.
Kendra shrugged, then nodded. “Sure. Maybe.”
“We will do this again, won’t we? I want more pictures of you, and then I want to get some video.”
“Really? Video?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m giving you the full treatment, sweetheart.”
After leaving, she’d looked back as she neared her trailer, and there was Mr. Regent, smiling, watching her. He’d waved at her, and she’d smiled and waved back.
Mr. Regent was a nice man, and he was very informative. He was very handsome, too. He wasn’t afraid to say anything in front of her, it seemed. Like talking about his erection. Kendra had read about penises and erections in what she thought of as her online encyclopedia. She found the very idea of them funny – imagine, living with something hanging between your legs that could, at any moment, get hard and stand up straight! It was silly. She was struck by the size of Mr. Regent’s erection. Of course, maybe all of them were that big – she had no idea, nothing to measure it against, and was only speculating.
She wondered how big Marc’s got when he was excited. Heat moved up her neck to her face. She wondered what kind of things excited him. Would he be as excited as Mr. Regent if he saw her in a bikini bra and shorts?
Kendra felt a tickling sensation deep in her belly when she thought of Marc seeing her the way Mr. Regent had just seen her, and she giggled. Would he get hard, too? Would he want to touch her? Is that what he wanted?
Or would the same thing that usually happened to Kendra throughout her life happen yet again – would he point at her and laugh?
There was something about Marcus Reznick – she did not know what, only that she had sensed it from him while lying next to him on the roof – that told her he would not do that. Whatever it was, she could see it in his eyes. His eyes were a large part of what made him so appealing. His eyes were sad. She’d considered asking him why, but had not mustered the courage yet. She had not mustered the courage to do a lot of things, but it was about time she did.
She giggled again. It was a black little giggle that bubbled up out of her. It sounded more aggressive than simply mischievous – it sounded almost ominous. It sounded almost like a threat.
Then a bad thought occurred to her, a thought that struck her mind like a bolt of lightning. Big, flaming words rose up in her mind’s eye: WHAT IF MOMMY FINDS OUT?
That would be bad, very bad. Kendra could not even imagine how Mommy would react if she learned she’d posed for naked pictures. But she trusted Mr. Regent not to tell her, because he’d probably be in trouble with Mommy, too. He’d promised it would be their secret – why would he lie?
But what if Mommy saw the pictures online? Would they be on a site where Mommy might go? She would have to ask Mr. Regent.
If Mommy found out… well, it would be awful, that was all. But Kendra told herself Mommy wouldn’t find out – simple as that. And she stopped worrying about it. Simple as that.
Kendra went to the kitchen and took the jar of peanut butter from the cupboard. She got a spoon from the drawer, opened the jar, and scooped some peanut butter out with the spoon and licked some of it off slowly, wondering if it really hid the smell of alcohol.
Dexter went to the door and sat there with his body facing it, his head turned to look at Kendra. When she finally noticed him, she said, “Do you need to go out?”
He stood and hurried around in a tight circle.
She opened the door and screen door and let him out. She watched from the door, licking peanut butter from the spoon, smacking her lips, as Dexter went to the fruitless mulberry in the front yard and urinated on its base. Then, happy with himself, he trotted back up the steps and into the trailer. Kendra sat down Indian-style on the floor and Dexter hopped into her lap.
“Oh, Dexter, I’ve been such a naughty girl,” she said. “If Mommy ever found out, she’d be… she’d be… “ Kendra giggled. “She’d ex-plode.”
Fourteen
Ever since lunch, since Mo Carey had left, Reznick had been toying with the idea of leaving work early. The very phrase “leaving work” hardly applied to him – he simply would be leaving an empty office.
At least he had one client, and a job to do that evening.
He decided, at three-seventeen that afternoon, to go home. His sleep had been restless last night and he could use a nap before following Mrs. Carey around.
Reznick stood behind his desk and stretched his arms above his head. He took his suit coat from the back of his chair and slipped it on, picked up his briefcase. His tie drooped and his top button was loose. He turned everything off – the coffee maker, the fan, the air conditioning – then grabbed a handful of business cards and left the office.