Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

40. Dead or Alive

A/N: I hate to be this author but please don't be a ghost reader. I put in a lot of effort and heart to create original content for y'all. I don't get paid for this. I love interacting w everyone and watching y'all play detective in the comments. My reads do not match yall activity. Say hi or somethin damn 😭

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Grace straddled Joseph, her small hands wrapped around his wrists pinning his tattooed arms above his head as she looked down at him with a smug grin. Her long brown tresses cascaded over her right shoulder tickling Joseph's inked torso.

" You think you tough?" Joseph chuckled, looking up at her. His normally intense dark gaze now softened— he couldn't look at her any other way. She just had this hold on his soul— like kryptonite to Superman, she made him weak in the best way.

Graces aura was so calming and comforting to Joseph. While he provided safety to her physical, she provided sanctity to his spirit. Like an angel on earth, she's the closest he'll ever get to heaven.

In one swift movement, Joseph rolled Grace over so that he was now hovering over her. She burst into a fit of laughter, her boisterous giggles like a symphony to his ears. She twisted her lips to the side with a gentle smirk as she now looked up at him. Silence fell over their room as their eyes did all the talking exuding an overwhelming amount of love and admiration for one another. It wasn't awkward at all, in fact intoxicatingly enticing like a moth to a flame. Even after almost 6 years they were still sickeningly obsessed with one another.

" I let you do that," Grace said, finally breaking the silence.

Joseph let out a stifled snicker craning his head down so that their face were only millimeters apart, their lips practically brushing up against each other. " Oh yea?" He asked.

Graces heart fluttered in her chest like she'd somehow swallowed a butterfly. Taking her bottom lip between both sets of her pearly teeth, she nodded shyly, nervously anticipating him pressing his lips against hers like it was their first kiss again.

Joseph closed the space between them two, pressing his lips against hers. Graces small hands found the back of his head pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. He kissed her slowly, yet passionately— they're lips moving in sync as they traded energy.

One of Joseph's hands traveled up her center slowly as they kissed, wrapping his large hand around her throat applying light pressure making her smile against his lips. She loved when he choked her. Grace placed both her hands around his making him squeeze her throat tighter, igniting her fire. Joseph lifted his head, to watch her facial expression as she looked at him with a lustful devious smirk.

In a split second, Joseph cocked his head to the side, the emotion draining out of his face as he looked down at her with a blank stare. His eyes seemed to take on a darker shade as his grip around her neck passed an uncomfortable level as he continued to apply more and more pressure. Grace instantly furrowed her brows grabbing at his hand in a panic trying to pull it off as she could feel the pressure building in her head. She could hear the blood rushing past her ear drums as if she'd put her ear up to a seashell.

His grip continued to tighten on her throat as he stared down at her red face with an empty look; to the point where she could no longer breathe at all as if he'd taken the very breath from her lungs completely depleting her of oxygen as she kicked her legs frantically trying to hold onto consciousness— her vision slowly began to fade out losing control of her own body.

Grace abruptly shot out of her sleep, sitting up coughing and gasping for air. Her nude body was covered in a light sheen of sweat and her heart beat unhealthily fast as if she'd just been injected with pure adrenaline. She looked around the empty room, Joseph's side of the bed was empty with the covers ruffled as if he'd just gotten up and the thick black out curtains were still pulled shut darkening the room and giving her no sense of time.