Paint Me Saved ✓ Book 1

12. Fool's gold

Leonardo

They trained us not to act like hotheads, rigorously drilling it in every soldier to ensure we held our composure when making crucial decisions.

However, battlefields were different from a training environment. In the fog of war, resonating with human cries, chaos danced to life, murdering the ability to render logical decisions.

The conference room I marched into was one such zone but instead of bullets or grenades, I faced a shrapnel of questions. My inability to defend Zemira made me lose my temper.

Amidst accusations hurting her reputation, I faltered. I couldn't drag my feet away nor could I dam the tirade from flooding the room.

Everything was an involuntary act.

No amount of facts could explain how Zemira shifted the center of my gravity, spinning me off my axis.

In a moment of flight or fight my mind reprioritized, placing her protection above everything else regardless of the repercussions.

After I had escaped the debacle my declaration caused in the conference room, Haley walked me into a secluded meeting room.

Though she remained silent, a storm of anger roared past her when she pressed the door shut.

"Why do you always act like the messiah..." The heat from her glare burnt me. "When you could have said anything else."

"I know... I shouldn't have." I anchored my fingers into my hair to support the weight of my miscalculated judgment. "But we can get out of it. I know I can..."

"You can't. You cannot get out of it," she grunted and fell back in a chair. "You gave your fucking word, not just to anyone but..."

"Zem was being-"

"Mutilated on the television or whatever shit she's been through?" Haley already knew my line of defense. "Antonio was being attacked too, you know. His privacy is in tatters but you only came to her rescue."

I moved a step closer but Haley leaned back, her hands held up to maintain the distance.

"Believe me, Hales, when I say that it was out of a sense of duty."

"Really, Leo?" Her voice fumbled, emerging alongside the tears. "I want to believe you but I've suppressed my inkling for a long time. I'm not too blind to notice the way you look at her. It's sheer adoration, like... like... she holds some sort of spell over you."

In an act of acceptance, I knelt before her, trying to cup her face. Turning her head to the side, she pushed the chair backwards.

"I may have acted rashly, Haley, but you'll have to understand, it was only to help them out."

Streaks of mascara ran down her face before she wiped them over her sleeve, and coiled her arms around me, embracing me harder.

"You're such an idiot," she said.

She lingered with her arms tightened behind my back. It seemed like she was relishing the moment. Then, like all other times, she moved back, widening our distance.

"We cannot be seen together till you and Zem sort this mess." Haley's finger danced between us. "You understand, right?"

I nodded, my gaze lingering over the tip of my black oxfords.

"I understand."

A reckless decision led to so many collaterals. One stood in front of me, sniffling and wiping her nose.