A/N: Forgive me for how horribly short this chapter is! I'll have the next chapter up before the end of the week! I just had to give you guys something before then...:(
He hadn't seen anyone walk up, and he hadn't heard the footsteps. He hadn't had to. The hairs on the back of his neck gave the man away. Mike tried not to shrink back into his seat as he sat up from his work and looked up into the face of his ex-boss.
"Where you not going to tell me?" Had Mike not (what seemed like) physically felt the anger coming off of Harvey in waves, he might not have thought much of his smooth, calm voice. But he knew. And he was less than clam himself.
Heart thudding in his chest, he prayed that at least his voice could act like he wasn't dying. "What's there to say, Harvey?" He sighed, trying to sound like he was wrapping up the conversation before it was done. He didn't want to hurt him. He didn't want to do any more damage than he already had, but he was just hurting so goddamn bad and the betrayal he could see hiding behind the mask made it oh so much worse. He just wanted to go back to his work and drown himself in his music.
"Maybe some notice so that I could have selected a new associate?" Mike cringed. Oh. "Or maybe why you fucking screwed me?"
He was expecting it to be bad, the throb in his chest, but he wasn't anticipating this absolute stabbing feeling in his gut that made him want to curl up in bed and never leave. "It just wasn't working for me, Harvey. You weren't the mentor I needed." The hard-slap-expression on Harvey's face didn't even begin to match the one Mike was feeling. It was as if six elephants were standing on his chest. Crushing him. Sending him back into the mud where he belongs.
Harvey smiled down at him as if he had just been wished happy birthday, then leaned down and cooed in the softest of voices, "You were nothing before me, Mike, and you're nothing without me now." His eyes never faltered in their stare. "You're the same ungrateful little shit I found dealing a suitcase full of weed. You and Louis are perfect for each other." There was something in his tone, beneath the malice and promise of pain that Mike couldn't decipher. Whatever it was, it had him suppressing the urge to tremble.
Harvey was right, of course. But oh, he was so wrong. He'd done it for him...