THE NIKEL chapter 7

After the weekend Life was in the downtown Los Angeles traffic picking Saundra up from work at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He wondered how she did it everyday. How she got up early in the morning, swam at the gym, sat in all the traffic, supervised her department and then sat in traffic again. On top of that he knew that he was not the easiest guy to to deal with all of the time. Life also thought about what Guns said. He knew it was crazy. He knew his lady better than Guns ever could. Still, Life mentally questioned Saundra in ways he had never before?

She stood outside in a soft pink dress that came just above her knees with a pair of high heels. There outside in the breeze he could see the top of her bra just a little. If he could see it, he was sure the suit she was talking to could. Life pulled up staring hard at him. Eigth grade boys. Saundra got in the truck and leaned in to give him a kiss. Without thinking, he pulled away. "Who was that?" He asked.

"One of the attorneys handling a new case here. He heard a little knucklehead in the elevator say something disrespectful to me and just wanted to make sure the kid left."

"What did he say?"

"I don't remember. It was nothing really. Just some teenager showin' off in front of his little friends. We had only been outside a minute when you pulled up. What's wrong with you?"

Life pulled off and they were quiet for a while. A rap song came on the radio and she cut it off.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I don't feel like hearing any noise right now. I'm getting a headache."

"So the music I want to listen to is noise."

Saundra sighed and shook her head and leaned in closer and kissed his chest. She liked that it made him relax and smile but noticed a pattern she knew she had to put a stop to. He got upset and she calmed him down with sex. He got the sex whe wanted but she missed the sharing the she wanted. And asking him to talk would only start the cycle all over again.

"How do you always know what I want?" He let his fingers get tangeld in her hair. "You know, when I was growing up I dreamed of having all of the things that I have. I thought that when I got them, I was supposed to suddenly be happy because of those things."

"You sayin' you not happy?" She kissed him again. This time for her. The more he shared anything, even stories about his childhood, anything, she got turned on by it.

"Do you kow what you want, Saundra?"

"You mean right now?" She looked up at him and smiled. He gently pushed her off of him.

"I mean period. Do you know?"

Saundra sat up and looked out of the window. Just then when it was her turn to "talk" it wasn't so easy. Life's phone rang and he was sure Saundra thought she was saved. She knew the signs of his deep conversation coming on and knew she wasn't in the mood for it.

"What's up, Bec? Cool, out and and about right now. What's goin' on? Who? Family Soul? Eight days? Couldn't I just fly off at the next port?"

He looked over at Saundra. "She might, I'll ask her. Bec, I'll look at my calender and give you a call tonight. Send me the details."

"What's up?"

"Bec wants to book me to do a show on a cruise in a couple of months. It sounds cool but it's for eight days though and they want me to stay the whole time. Baby?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could get time off work? I want you to come with me."