“Can I touch it?”
“You don’t even have to ask.”
She wrapped her fingers around it and slowly moved her hand up and down. Reznick moaned quietly.
She put her mouth on him and he gasped. He only got harder and more excited. He clawed at the bottom sheet as her head and fist moved up and down on him.
“Oh,” he said, “oh, oh, oh.”
He did not want to come, so he reached down and closed his hand on her upper arm, made her stop, then tugged on her to come up with him. She moved up to join him and they kissed again, her right hand on his chest. She bent her right knee and moved her leg across his, pressed his erection down with her thigh. Her skin was soft as summer clouds as it moved over his.
Reznick reached down and found her center, ran his fingers through the downy curly hair, slipped his fingers between the moist lips and moved them, manipulated her.
Kendra pulled her face away from his and gasped.
He found her clitoris and she cried out, her mouth hanging open, eyes closed.
“You like that?” he whispered.
All she could do was nod jerkily.
He pulled away from her and moved down her body, then nestled his face between her legs. He reached up and massaged her breasts as he licked her.
Kendra’s body wriggled as she moaned and cried out. She was feeling sensations she had never felt before, and it was getting the best of her. She cried out so loudly at one point, she frightened him. She kicked her legs, squeezed them together on his head for a moment, then spread them as wide as they would go. He worked his tongue on her as he pinched her nipples.
Kendra started crying. Not just crying out, but crying real tears.
Thinking he was hurting her, Reznick sat up and said, “Are you okay?”
“Don’t! Stop!” she gasped.
He went back to it, smiling now.
After awhile, he crawled up her body, stopping to nibble and lick and kiss her here and there, finally stopping to kiss her on the mouth. Her eyes were puffy and wet. Reznick reached over to the night stand and got the condom.
“What’s that?” Kendra asked, her voice breathy.
“It’s called a condom. I put it on my penis and it keeps you from getting pregnant.”
“Oh. Can I put it on?”
He smiled. “Sure.” He rolled over onto his back and his penis jutted into the air.
Kendra crawled down to his penis and he handed her the condom.
“Do you know how to do it?” he said.
She frowned as she inspected the condom, then her face softened as she inspected his erect penis. She put the condom on the tip of his penis.
“It’s upside-down,” he said. “Turn it over.”
She did.
“There you go. Now just unroll it down my penis.”
And she did.
“And it’s on and ready to go,” he said.
“And now can we do it?” she said.
“Now we can do it.” Regent grinned as he took her in his arms and rolled over on top of her.
“Careful of my finger,” she said.
“Okay.”
She spread her legs and wrapped them around his waist and he slipped inside her with a gentle, tremulous sigh.
Twenty-Three
As morning turned into afternoon, the hot breeze that murmured through the trees overhead picked up and became a blistering wind. The dry, rustling trees crackled and shushed as the wind whipped them back and forth. Blossoms blew from the silk trees and fluttered through the air like a pink snow, skidded over the ground, bounced and spun. By noon, the temperature was one hundred and eight, and by two it had gone up another four degrees to one hundred and twelve.
The temperature reported on the radio and television and in the paper was always five or six degrees lower when it was that hot so as not to scare off tourists. The official temperature came from a thermometer at the airport, suspended over a cool, well-watered lawn in the shade, and it was deceptive.
All the swamp coolers in the Riverside Mobile Home Park hummed and rattled and dripped. Fans whirred and some swept slowly back and forth.
In unit nine, there was a lot of laughter.
Reznick and Kendra lay on the bed together, naked and with no covers on. They had been going at it all day.
He scooted down on the bed and rolled over on top of her. He put his face between her breasts, squeezed them together on his head, and said, “Now I can die happy.”
Kendra giggled.
He pressed his mouth to her rib cage and blew hard, making a loud farting sound, and she burst into raucous laughter, saying, “That tickles!”
He propped himself up on his elbow and kissed her. They’d kissed so much that day, his lips were numb.
“You tickle me,” he said.
“I want some more screwdriver,” she said, handing over her glass.
“Sure.”
Reznick took the glass, then sat up on the edge of the bed. The pitcher was on the night stand, next to a bowl of melting ice. He put some ice in the glass, then poured the mixture of orange juice and vodka into the glass. The ice cubes cracked and popped as he handed it back to her.
The mixture was mild, but it was working.
That morning, Kendra had said, “I want some wine. Steven gave me wine.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” Reznick had said.
“Yeah. I liked it. It made me feel… goofy.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t have any wine.”
“Can’t we go get some? We could go to Handi-Spot, couldn’t we? Just up North Street? Sometimes Mommy goes to Handi-Spot for cigarettes and beer.”
Reznick had thought about it. He’d never had much taste for wine. Vodka had always been his drink.
“Ever had a screwdriver?” he’d said.
“No. What’s that?”
“It’s orange juice and vodka, and if you think the wine made you feel goofy, you should try that.”
“Okay, let’s go get some orange juice and vodka and make some screwdriver!” she said.
“You’re feeling adventurous, huh?”
“Yes, adventure… ous.”
A year of sobriety down the drain, Reznick had thought then. But when he looked at the naked girl lying in bed beside him, as he moved his eyes slowly up and down her pale, milky, voluptuous body, he was overcome with a desire to celebrate. He’d decided then that he would make the screwdrivers mild. He wouldn’t overdo it, for his own sake and hers.
They had dressed and gone to the Handi-Spot Market in Reznick’s car. In the store, he’d told her to go find herself an ice cream bar while he got the liquor. On the way home, she’d reached over and squeezed his crotch as he drove.
“Has anybody ever sucked on you while you drove your car?” she said. She took a bite out of the ice cream bar, licked ice cream from her lips.
“Yes, and it nearly got us killed, so thank you, but no thank you.”
Kendra was adventurous. She’d been insatiable in bed, wanting to try everything. She had exhausted him, but at the same time invigorated him, so he was able to keep going back for more and more.
Now they sat up in bed with their backs to the headboard, and Kendra held up her glass in a toast.
“To, uh… to… “ Her face brightened. “To fucking!”
“All right. To fucking.”
They clinked their glasses together, then took a drink.
“This is the last, though,” Reznick said. “You need to take a shower and sober up before your mommy comes home from work.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll eat some peanut butter to hide the smell.”
His eyebrows popped up. “How’d you know about peanut butter? That’s an old alcoholic’s trick.”
“Steven told me about it.”
“Oh. Good old Steven.” Reznick remembered the sensation of stuffing the weights into Steven Regent’s abdomen and tried to eject the memory immediately. It did not eject so easily, though. It was not what he wanted to think about right now. It made him frown, darkened his mood. He swung his legs off the bed and stood. “I’m gonna go check on the dogs. They might want to go outside.”