Chapter 16
It had been a day after he had seen Amber. Slade finished his work late that night. He sighed and thought I haven't done anything that I planned on doing to help Amber. But that was Slade's life in a nutshell: making plans, attempting to make them work, and then failing. He shut off and closed his laptop as Jagger entered the office.
"What do you want?" snarled Slade Princeton angrily. He figured that he'd feel better by taking it out on Jagger whom people believed was such a god damned saint. Amber, even believed that, but the eldest Princeton knew better.
Jagger retorted, "You sent money to orphanages? You paid for those people to stay in those apartments? I thought money was important to you. When the hell did you do this?" He hadn't figured out Slade's exact plans or reasoning, and Jagger was supposed to be the smart one.
Slade answered calmly, "Do you want us to have better publicity or not? We want a better image, and unlike you, people know that I can be an asshole. You're the angel that no one expects that you came from the deepest pits of hell. It's part of the plan." Jagger nodded and pretended to leave, but he stopped at the door.
"I think you're lying to me," the politician said as Slade rose out of his chair. Jagger watched his older brother carefully as Slade put folders, papers, and research into his briefcase.
"I think you're the worst kind of liar," replied the business man as he neared his brother. "I'm not as bad as you are. You may have fooled Ally and Amber, but I will expose you, brother. You have been the secret antagonist, trying to get them to bow down to your will, but I won't let that happen." Slade closed his large door behind him and stared in disbelief as he saw Amber and Ally in the hallway listening intently on their conversation. The businessman said to himself okay, you haven't heard from her in two weeks, and here she is listening to the whole conversation you had with your brother. He smiled as he realized that Amber did have enough trust in him to come to find out the truth about Jagger instead of staying home which Slade assumed they would.
"So, Jagger, you honestly thought you could rule the world and rule my family as well," growled Ally coldly. Her blonde hair braided and her glasses covering her face made her seem as smart as she was angry.
"It doesn't work like that," agreed Amber, "I don't work like that." She definitely knew the truth now, and so did her younger sibling. Slade smiled and thought checkmate, and I was always horrible at chess to add to the irony. Jagger backed into Slade's office door without the ability to figure out what to do.
"Help me brother," pleaded Slade as he noticed the anger growing inside of Amber.
"No, everything that has gone on between your brother and I is your entire fault!" yelled Amber with all her strength. "Do you know how much drama you caused?" Jagger felt his hand grab the brass doorknob. He didn't know how to respond to her confrontation.
"Jagger, get the hell away from me," snapped Slade as his brother neared him, "You're fired and you can find your own fucking place to stay, but don't ever come near me." Amber nodded and put an arm around her younger sister.
"Of course, you are the boss," growled Jagger as he punched his older brother in the face. The girls gasped as Slade punched his brother back in the stomach. The two brothers' violence scared both Ally and Amber as the men continued their fighting. Ally dialed a number on her cell phone to report the brawl.
"Stop," screamed Amber as Jagger knocked Slade to the ground. Ally watched as her sister ran over to the fallen Slade. The younger Rhodes thought well; at least we know where her loyalties lay.
"I'm fine," groaned Slade as sirens wailed in the distance. He stood up looking as proud and strong as a Princeton should. He looked down at the young woman who was fretting over him.
Amber replied, "You're hurt, Slade." Jagger started laughing evilly ignoring the clomping of boots on the stairs heading to their floor.
"Oh yes, Slade, you are hurt. I'll put you out of your misery for you," snarled Jagger as he threw his older brother to the floor but held handcuffs on his wrists. He looked behind him to see three police officers.
"You'll be in misery at the big house," said the police officer leading Jagger away from Slade and downstairs. Ally smiled and thought another villain put in jail by the great Allison Rhodes. She saw Slade fall to the ground.
"Quick," said Amber, "Let's get him to our house. Slade has a phobia of hospitals." They dragged him to the white prius and placed him in the back seat. Ally watched her sister's stoic behavior, but it was obvious that she was worried.
A couple hours later, Slade woke up bandaged to see Amber trying to sleep on the recliner. He found himself on the couch covered with a black blanket. He smiled and thought she actually cares about my health. He asked, "Miss Rhodes, are you asleep." Being shocked by his sudden voice, she fell off the chair.
"You're awake. I never got around to thanking you for telling me of what Jagger was planning. I'm really sorry for all that I've done. You must hate me," she said as she got a bottle of water for Slade. He sat up and stretched his arms.
Slade replied, "Don't worry about it. I thought that I caused all of this trouble by myself." He drank some of the cold water that was given to him. He rested his aching head on the pillow. He noticed the resentment in Amber's eyes for falling into Jagger's plans, and she thinking it was too late to change.
"I'm still sorry, I should have…" Amber said unable to finish her sentence. She rested her head by his arm. She couldn't believe all that happened in less than twenty-four hours.
"I said don't worry about it," responded Slade stroking her loose brown hair, "We have all the time in the world to make things right. We've hated each other for three years because of a politician, it happens." He smiled as he realized that for once he was the calm one, but he was like that when he wasn't angry and relaxed around Amber. He thought I've never seen her, this stressed before.
"It really is my fault though," said Amber being caught off guard by Slade beginning to laugh. She didn't see why the businessman was finding so hilarious, but some things never made sense to Amber.
As soon as Slade calmed down, he asked, "Then do you want to start over? Start a new friendship without someone plotting to tear us apart? I highly doubt you want to restart a relationship under these circumstances." He wiped the tears that were falling from Amber's eyes.
"Okay, let's start over. I'm Amber Rhodes," she said pulling out her hand.
"I'm Slade Princeton," he replied shaking her hand. They smiled knowing that this time things would work differently.
Mew Kazurinu: Well, that's basically it except for the epilogue. So I hoped you enjoyed it so far. Now to start that epilogue