Was this his… studio?
I did vaguely remember Cam mentioning trying to encourage Ritchie’s hobbies since he still hadn’t “found his path in life” like Cam thought he personally had.
Was this how he’d encouraged it? By renting him out a studio to tinker in?
Even partially-finished studio space in the city had to be expensive. Which was a testament to how much Cam cared for his boyfriend.
I couldn’t help it.
My heart cracked a bit for Cam, for this truth he was going to need to face, whether I lived or not. How he would blame himself. Especially because I was taking the heat for a decision he had ultimately made. A dream he had crushed.
If not for Cam insisting on putting an end to it, I probably would have gone through with the process, but only put the bare minimum amount of money into, so no one ever really saw the ad. Just to appease a man who meant a lot to the man who meant a lot to me.
“Cam,” I murmured, not really intending to, but at least it came out clearly.
“What about him?” Ritchie asked, twirling something around in his hand, and it took me all of a second to realize what it was.
A knife.
Could it be the same one that had cut me?
Had he held onto it like a souvenir?
How was he going to use it on me this time?
Surely, he wasn’t just going to quickly slit my wrist again. He wouldn’t have bothered to drug and bind me if that was the case.
Did that speak to his sanity slipping?
Was that better or worse for me when it came to stalling for time?
“I…I… is he okay?”
“Why wouldn’t he be?” Ritchie asked, shrugging it off.
I wasn’t really conscious of thinking the thoughts before they were spilling out of my lips.
“Because he was the one to tell me to fire you.”
There was no taking it back once it was out.
The best I could do was try to use it to my advantage.
Maybe it would confuse him, split his rage.
It was possible I just put Cam in danger too. But if Ritchie left to try to get Cam and bring him back as well, it gave me a chance to get up and get away, get help for myself and for Cam.
“Liar,” he hissed, his eyes igniting.
“I wasn’t happy with the ad,” I admitted. “But I was going to use it. Cam told me that we couldn’t run it. He said it would hurt the brand,” I told him. There was no false note in my voice because I was telling the truth.
Ritchie glared at me for a long moment.
“No. He would never.”
“He did. Why do you think he was there when I fired you? I don’t usually even do the firing at the company.”
“No… he wouldn’t do that to me,” he said, shaking his head.