Page 83 of Apparently, I’m A B!tch

My brows knit together, my glance darting to the doorway Jake had disappeared through. I stood, bracing my hands on the desk to stop them from trembling, my earlier shock now deciding to hit me. Jake came in here, screaming at me because of Harvey’s decision to let him go, and Harvey really thought this fake apology would cut it?

My voice shook as I asked, “You don’t mean a word of that, do you?”

His eyes flew open and he took in a breath. “Excuse me, Nik, I absolutely–”

“You hate that I won. You hate that I was right and that Kelly wants to work with me now, don’t you?”

“Nik, you’re –”

“You never thought I’d win that case, and you never thought Kelly would want to leave you. You thought I’d lose and Kelly would come crawling on her hands and knees, begging you to–”

“Yes! Yes, alright, fine!” Harvey yelled and stood, pushing his blazer back, hands on his hips as he paced. “I never thought you’d win, and I didn’t want you to. I had it good here, Nikki. I had Kelly and I had a fucking flawless track record. Until you showed up and decided I was the bad guy, I was set to become the youngest partner in my graduating class. Do you know what that means for me? But you kept coming in here, showing me up, telling Maggie I couldn’t be partner, telling Kelly I’m an asshole that doesn’t deserve her.” He paused, taking in a breath and meeting my gaze squarely. “Just because you were right, doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Harvey’s suit wasn’t as impeccably tailored as it usually was, his megawatt smile was replaced with fine lines, and his arms hung by his sides in defeat.

I straightened behind my desk and folded my arms, forcing the words out of my lips. “I might’ve been right, but maybe I could’ve found a better way to approach it.”

He met my glance and frowned, no doubt wondering whether my words held some kind of apology of their own.

“I could’ve been honest about how I felt, like a calm and rational adult, instead of goading you into an argument that led to our bet to begin with. We went through with our wager, and I did win, but I could’ve handled it better.”

He took a breath, straightened, and asked, “You could’ve?”

I nodded. “Probably. And I can work on keeping my emotions in check if you think we could both find a way to be in the same room without acting like assholes.” I paused and eyed him, watching the small line dance between his furrowed brows. “What do you think?”

A hint of his smile came back as he said, “Well, I suppose I can be a bit of an asshole sometimes. To be able to work amicably together would be an improvement for me too.” He closed his eyes and nodded, reminding me of the melodramatic, condescending bastard I always thought he was, before he cleared his throat and said, “My apology still stands, if you’ll accept it.”

I fought back the rise of glee at seeing Harvey so humbled, my victory threatening to overtake me. He apologized. Harvey apologized, and Kelly and I could keep working together! No speech, and no more Jake! No more hostile assholes walking around the office, calling me The Cutter whenever I walked by. And no more being labeled a bitch.

I let myself smile, and tried to keep my voice even as I said, “Thank you, Harvey. I accept your apology, and I look forward to continuing our work with your support.”

There was a slight glint in his eye as Harvey lifted his glance. “I’m glad to hear it, Nik. Because a new action has just been filed and the client has specifically requested your help. It’s… a minor case to say the least. But the dear fellow was so insistent; I think you’ll find it interesting.”

I tilted my face, trying not to let my surprise show. Clients didn’t ask for me. I had barely any clout as it was. Who would ask for me by name?

Maggie and Kelly appeared in my doorway and knocked.

“Oh, you will want this case, Nikki dear,” Maggie started. “What with coercion being something you were so fascinated with only a handful of weeks ago.”

I flushed with embarrassment and quickly took in Kelly and Harvey’s faces. I made a thoughtless accusation about Harvey coercing Kelly–did they know about it?

But it didn’t look like they did; Harvey’s face was back to civil and good-humored while Kelly shot me a warm smile.

My paralegal, and future mentee, said, “He’s waiting in the boardroom, boss. Let’s go say hi.”