Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

23. Seeing red

" I don't think you should get out," Tre said, looking at Grace through the rear view mirror at where she sat in the back seat of the luxury truck.

Grace turned her attention from out of the tinted windows waiting anxiously for Joseph to walk out of the front gates of the jail over to Tre. " Why?"

" They all waiting on Joseph," He said, nodding his head toward a small crowd of journalists holding microphones and cameras that had collected some few feet away from the gates. Grace was so deep in thought anxiously waiting for Joseph to come out that she hadn't even seen the small mob growing outside.

Grace curled up her glossy top lip, staring at them. " Why are they even here?" She muttered rhetorically.

" Because they get paid to make Jo look bad. He been in the house for months, you know they wouldn't miss this,"

Grace picked a strand of hair off her gloss covered lips irritatedly. She understands that they're just trying to do their jobs but why not focus on someone that's actually a menace to society. It hurt her heart the way everyone tried to portray Joseph as this evil crazed killer, he was more than that— sweet, caring, protective, loving and the list goes on. It pissed her off the way they almost laid in wait, waiting on him to walk out and pounce on him preying on him with their microphones and cameras so they can plaster his face all over the news with some caption on how he's a terrible person and should've been kept in jail to keep the streets safer.

Grace applauded Joseph's resilience, one of the many things she adored about him. He never let the things the news and blogs say about him get to him and there's been some pretty bad things said, some things that admittedly wanted to make Grace cry because they were just so callous and mean.

" I don't care, I'm getting out," Grace said, pulling the door handle finding it locked. " Please unlock the doors,"

Tre gave her a look through the rear view mirror before hitting the lock. " Don't walk away from the truck Grace— that's an order,"

" ThAtS aN OrDeR," Grace mumbled to herself hopping out of the truck, her Nikes kicking up dust as her feet hit the pavement. Grace liked Tre as a person, he always only had her safety in mind but she's a grown woman at the end of the day, she doesn't need babysitting.

Grace leaned her small frame up against the shiny black truck picking at her gel manicure anxiously. This was the first night Grace and Joseph had spent apart since he'd come back home and Grace didn't get a wink of sleep, she didn't even attempt to go to sleep though the soft Tempur-pedic mattress and silky egyptian cotton sheets on their bed were very tempting to fall into a deep slumber on but she didn't want to miss the call. She stayed up all night waiting for the call from Joseph's lawyer, Rick, that he'd been processed through booking and was finally being released.

Last night was a prime example of one of her worst fears. She knew Joseph would be back home because resisting arrest is only a misdemeanor and not worthy of actually doing real time for but she was traumatized from when Joseph had gotten taken away the first time. She felt sick because she knew them getting harassed and Joseph getting arrested wasn't for any reason but because of her. Malik used Joseph to hurt her and it worked. She felt so helpless and powerless watching him get put into that cop car last night. The police are supposed to be the hero's, sworn to protect and serve but in her eyes they'd become public enemy number one just because of how easily they're able to abuse their authoritative power like last night.

Grace was stuck in a triangle between two powerful men— one with the whole police department behind him and the other with the streets of New York.

The sound of cameras shutters going off caught Graces attention prompting her to look up just as Joseph walked out of the jail with Rick by his side. A huge smile tugged at the corner of Graces lips as she struggled to contain it, her cheeks burning from smiling so hard as she waited for him to walk to the truck excitedly. The way Grace was acting you would've thought they hadn't seen each other in days but one night alone was one night too many.