"You said you'd take me by the grocery store for what you wouldn't let me go with Mom to get yesterday."
Not realizing that his mother's boyfriend, Pete, was just going to let him off here to do the yard work himself, Rick couldn't help letting his confusion and irritation show.
"Got this job at the other side of town that just got called in, Rick. You can walk home from here after you mow this guy's lawn and trim those hedges over thereâalthough neither job looks like it needs doing real bad. Tell me what you want from the grocery store and I'll pick it up for you when I'm finished cross town. This double pay will do us real well."
"No, thanks," Rick said. "I'll get it another time." It was nonsensical for him to reject the offer, and Rick knew it was. But it was the only rejection Rick was able to make toward this man who should be his father figure but who was banging both Rick's mother and Rickâwith each one of them addicted to what Pete gave them.
Rick watched Pete drive off in the truck after Pete told him not to worry about payment for this jobâthat the guy had prepaidâand then he restarted the mower and tried to remember where he'd left off on the front yard. Pete had been right, the lawn didn't look like it needed to be mowed; Rick could hardly tell where he'd mowed already and where he hadn't.
He did a few more rows, which brought him back to where he was looking directly at the front porchâand then he stopped dead in his tracks, taking his hand off the throttle and letting the mower die.
"Take your T-shirt off and continue mowing," the man on the front porch said, a man Rick recognized and was surprised to see here. "There's $20 extra in it for youâmoney you don't have to report to anyone."
"Why?" Rick asked, both confused and belligerent.
Doug Groton, Rick's photography teacher, was standing at the top of the steps, at the edge of the covered porch. All he had on was a pair of short shorts. He was holding a camera in one hand and was leaning against a post and giving Rick a half-sneering smile.
"Because I want to photograph you in action. I want to get young muscle shots, the way they expand and contract when being worked. It' not like I haven't seen you undressed before."
"This yard doesn't really need to be mowed," Rick said, standing there dead in his tracks. "You're wasting your money."
"Not if I get some good photos out of this. You have no idea what they'll pay in galleries for interesting specialty shots. I supply a special gallery where photos like ones of you mowing a yard will sell like hotcakes."
"The yard doesn't really need mowed," Rick repeated doggedly.
"Then if you're interested in making another fifty and come inside after I've gotten these shots for a more private photo shoot, no one will know you weren't spending the whole time you're here mowing the yard, will they?"
"You didn't need your yard mowed, did you?"
"Bingo. But you should give me points for tracking down your friend's lawn service."
"He's not my friend," Rick said.
"Does he fuck you?"
Rick said nothing. So, Groton didn't really need for him to answer.
"Does he fuck you good? He looks like he's hung low and he looks strong enough to go all day. I'd like to get some specialty photos of him too. And of the two of you togetherâand not just mowing the yard."
Rick said nothing. There was nothing much he could say.
"Do you want the $20? It's not like men don't mow their lawns without their shirts on. What's the problem with that? I'll bet every kid mowing a lawn in Baltimore today is doing it shirtless. I'm surprised I even had to ask. And I won't biteâeven if you want the fifty and come inside for an hour or two."
Rick did want the twentyâand the fifty too. And he was much too naĂŻve to even think about his photos being sold in galleries like Groton was hinting they would beâor have any inkling how paltry what Groton was offering to pay him was against what the man could make with multiple copies of the photos.
Inside the house, in Groton's basement, Rick was awed at the professional equipment and staging area Groton had set up down there. Once again the velvet-covered dais, like in the night school building, but here there was a dark blue velvet drape behind it as well and a brocade chaise lounge on the dais.
"You want me to strip completely down? I don't knowâ"
"What's the problem? You've already done it for the photography class."
"But I was permitted toâ"
"Don't be silly. I've already handled it. For fifty I'm going to want you to jack it off."
"While you are taking photos?"
"Yep. Both video and stills. But I'll tell you what, if you are that shy and will take just $30, I have a mask you can wear. Nobody you know will see these anyway. These will just be art shots. You've seen my photographs. You'll look good."
"I don't . . ." Rick just ran down, and Groton didn't fill in the blanks for him. Rick really wanted that extra $50.
But after nearly a minute, Groton said. "Hey, I won't even touch youâunless you want me toâand then I'd add money to the pot. I'll just take some pose-shot stills and then I'll let you do yourself while I video and take other stills."
"I don't know if I can."
"I'll help you. I'll lead you into some fantasy talk that will help you. It's not a problem. I've done this before. So, do you want me to bring out a mask?"
"No. I'll do the $50 shoot."
"Do you want me to help you get those shorts off."
"No. You said you wouldn'tâ"
"Well, the clock's ticking. So, if we're going to do this, you need to strip and get up on that couch."
For a half hour, as Rick posed this way and that, as Groton instructed, the only sounds in the room were the clicking of the camera and Groton's breathy expressions. As the shoot went on, Groton became increasingly hands on with setting the poses. But it happened so gradually that Rick didn't object until Groton was sitting beside him while Rick was stretched out on the chaise and had a hand encircling Rick's cock. Groton's gaze, however, was plastered to Rick's face through the camera lens in a close-up.
"Hey, you said you won'tâ"
"Another $20? These are going to be great shotsâof your facial expressions as I'm masturbating youâexcept you can't come. We just want you worked up big for the video. It's no more than I did with you in my car. Just relax. I won't fuck youâunless you want me too. Just a hand job and not all the way. For an extra twenty bucks."
Rick sighed and tried to relax, which wasn't easy with the camera in his face and Groton muttering how nice he was and what a natural model he was.
"Now," Groton said at length, when he thought he'd gotten the length out of Rick's cock that he wanted, "for the video." He popped up and went behind one of three cameras and turned it on and made adjustments and then went to the other two in succession, so that they were all rolling film.
"What do you want me toâ?"
"Just lay back and masturbate and respond to my questionsâhold it as long as you can, but then go ahead and let it fly. And don't hold back on your reactions. Just like you were alone and thinking the things we're talking about. Natural, but be expressive too. Nothing phony, though. You're sweet and young and hung and cut and have a great face. That's what will sell. Unblemished berry-brown body. Worth top dollar."
Rick took his cock in his hand and started to slowly pump.
"You like being fucked by black men? Black men with muscles and long, thick cocks?"