Prism (Awakened Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  Other Titles by

  Harley Austin

  Awakened

  Series

  Awakened

  Dominion

  Legacy

  Invictus

  Interra

  Paradisus

  Deception

  Valor

  Promethean

  Novus

  Meridian

  Ascension

  Awakened

  Chronicles

  Siren

  Relic

  Prism

  Travada

  Primal

  Atlantica

  Oblivion

  Knightfall

  Fantasy

  Series

  BlueRazor

  FaerieFyre

  the Fierce Professions

  Fierce Competition

  Fierce Rebellion

  Fierce Survival

  Awakened Chronicles

  PRISM

  HARLEY AUSTIN

  Harley Austin Publishing

  harleyaustin.com

  Prism—Copyright © 2017-2019 Harley Austin. All rights reserved.

  Published by Harley Austin Publishing | HarleyAustin.com

  ISBN Paperback: 978-1-7951-7998-0

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyright materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Version 1.0—RELEASE COPY. This work may be periodically updated by the author/publisher with various corrections, additions and/or deletions to the work without a change of ISBN and without notice, guarantee or warranty of any kind.

  For my beautiful angel;

  the love of my life and the very best friend

  anyone could ever hope to have.

  And for Chris;

  the best brother anyone could ever hope to have

  and my number one fan.

  PRISM

  Prologue

  W hat’s this?” Parker lifted the small gift wrapped in an elegant bow from Carissa’s brother’s hand. Snow was falling hard outside as people moved in and out of the small chapel to pay their respects beside the closed white casket.

  “Carissa had this wrapped a week ago.” Denton returned his hands to the pockets of his black overcoat. “She was going to give it to you on her birthday, Christmas Eve.”

  Parker just stared at the metallic gold paper that wrapped the small gift box.

  “She really loved you, Parker. She had big plans for the two of you.”

  Parker grimaced, then nodded. The lump in his throat was growing even larger than it had all day. He hated this day. He wanted it over even before it started. “Thanks,” he managed to choke out.

  “Aren’t you going to open it?”

  “I will. Later. Thank you.”

  Denton then gripped his arm warmly and nodded.

  Then Parker watched her brother leave through the doors of the chapel—and he never saw him or the rest of her family ever again.

  1

  W inter Parker was tall with thick light brown hair, a four-day well-manicured scruff around his chin, fine brown eyes so light they looked almost gold and a dimpled smile with cupid lips that could kill. Beneath that nice tie and suit jacket was a god-like build filling out broad shoulders, chiseled pectorals and abs that narrowed to a twenty-eight inch waist.

  In another place and time is boss, Mauri, might have been interested in the younger guy. However, after working with him for six years in her tiny but growing company, she was confident in his business ability; but their personalities were just similar enough to be not compatible. Romance was off the table, but building her business was not. Parker was talented, smooth, easy to work with, focused, and determined. All of those were essential qualities she needed. But right now, she needed him focused on something else other than what he was thinking about now, and had been thinking about for weeks.

  “You look distracted, Parker.” Mauri eyed him from across the restaurant table during their lunch meeting. She’d seen this look on his face many times before. It happened this same time every year. Barely thirty-two now, he’d been with her company long enough for her to recognize that this wasn’t his happiest time of year.

  Parker half-smiled. “Probably.”

  “Are you ever going to get past this?” she folded her menu and laid it onto their table. “How many years has it been now?”

  “Four,” he grimaced.

  “Honestly, I don’t blame you. Carissa was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. But she’s not coming back and you need to move on.”

  “I know.”

  “You should do something this time of year. Something fun to take your mind off of what happened.”

  “I’ve tried. I can’t, Mauri. I’d just mope around and ruin the holiday for everyone else—like I do every year.”

  “You have to let it go, Parker. There was nothing you could have done. It’s not your fault.”

  “I keep telling myself that. But I always wonder, what if?”

  “What if what? What if you’d have arrived ten minutes earlier? Then you’d be exactly where she is right now.”

  “At least we’d be together.”

  “Parker—I know this is painful, but, you need to get over this. You’re a great looking guy. You have a bright future. You need to find a woman who will treat you like a prince, just like you treated Carissa.”

  Parker winced, considering her words.

  Mauri continued. “I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now.”

  “Oh?” Parker questioned. “Thinking about what?”

  “You’re all alone during the holidays. You spent Thanksgiving at home—alone. It’s not healthy. You need to be around people who love and care about you.”

  “It’s not that bad, Mauri. It is getting better—slowly.”

  “I need you to get better—faster, Parker. Next year is going to be insane with growth with the new contracts. Which is why I’m splitting the company into two divisions now.”

  “What?” His voice rose.

  She nodded. “Jack does fine running the healthcare side, it’s like clockwork now, but I need someone to who can grow the IT side. That someone is you.”

  “Really?” Parker’s eyes lit up.

  “See, I knew that would get a smile out of you.” She chuckled. “I want you to take the lead in growing our IT consulting. I saw what you did this year with our new clients. You’re no longer going to be reporting to Jack. You’ll report directly to me. And you’ll be managing the IT contracts directly. Including earning the profit sharing.”

  “Wow. Really? Jack’s not going to be happy.”

  “You let me worry about, Jack. Jack knows healthcare, inside and out, but he doesn’t have a clue about what the IT clients are looking for. You do.”

  Parker nodded.

  “I’m expanding our floor space in the building. The offices are already built out from the last tenant who left.”

  He nodded. “The law firm that moved—”

  “They spared no expense in renovating that space a few years ago. There’s an oak paneled office practically next door to mine with your name on it,” she smirked.

  “Mauri, I appreciate the confidence, but don’t you think I’m
a little young to be running a whole division like this?”

  “Nonsense. I know my people, Parker. You’ve been with me for six years; you know this business. I can’t have you running off to some ‘body shop’ recruiter. With the profit sharing you’ll triple your salary.”

  “Wow. Mauri. I’m—”

  “Surprised?”

  “Yea. I don’t know what to say? I thought you’d just be hiring someone new to manage the IT side. My degree’s in Computer Science, I’m not even an MBA.”

  “Well here’s news for you, hotshot. I don’t even have a degree. Wayne and I got married before I graduated; I never finished. No degree. Divorced with three kids. Now look at me. You learn as you go. Just like you’ve been doing for the past six years.”

  Parker grinned widely. Mauri was all business, but she knew exactly how to motivate people. Kind words and buckets of money. At a little over six figures, he was already earning well above what people in other companies were working the same position.

  “You talked me into it, Mauri. When do I start?”

  “Right after you get back from your vacation.”

  Parker lost his smile. “What vacation?”

  * * * * *

  His apartment was quiet. Parker had rented it years ago with the intention of Carissa moving in. The three-bedroom was just large enough for the two of them and hopefully a child or two. She wanted him wearing protection but it didn’t always happen with the two of them. The woman had been unreal in how beautiful she was. God she needed to be fucked. Often. Every time the two of them were together they’d lay awake half the night, making love slowly, talking, getting to know each other not just intimately, but personally. Carissa was funny, witty, intelligent; amazingly smart. But she could also be all business. He loved that about her.

  Parker lay propped up on one side of the couch of a bedroom that had become his home office. With a tablet in hand he flipped through pictures of her, pictures of the two of them, pictures she’d taken of him. The romance had been whirlwind. They’d dated almost two years.

  After moving to Seattle, he’d found a great job with the tiny company Mauri had just started after a nasty divorce with her ex. Then he’d met Carissa while on a client call to a prospect company where she worked as an HR assistant. It was love at first sight between the two of them. He didn’t get the contract, but he did have her number and the place of their first date before he left.

  Carissa liked to take pictures. He complained a lot about those. Now looking back he was glad for that little quirk of hers. She also liked to make racy home videos. There were eleven of those saved on his tablet and a few more on his laptop. She liked watching the two of them being intimate. Parker sighed, sliding past the videos. He’d seen them hundreds of times; memorized every scene, her every move and nuance, her every breath.

  He set the tablet onto the floor and picked up the little jewel box that had been wrapped in gold foil wrapping paper. He carefully unwrapped the box again, just as he’d done a hundred times before. The paper was getting a little worn now, but it still shone with the same sheen as the day Carissa’s brother, Denton, had given it to him. Setting the bow and paper carefully aside, he opened the shiny white box and removed a blue velvet ring box tucked within it. Opening the box he smiled at the contents. A gold ring with a diamond-like inlay shimmered with the light of the dimly task-lit room.

  That was Carissa. She was going to propose to him on Christmas Eve and this was her ring she was going to give him. She had one just like it already. Now they’d have a matching pair. He’d worn the ring many times, sometimes for months at a time, but he’d put it away as time wore on. He liked to pretend that they’d already been married …

  Parker shook his head. The time for pretending was over. He’d put the ring away last winter after his typical Christmas depression—trying to move on.

  He thought about slipping the band on again, but winced at the thought. Mauri was right. She’d moved on from a bad situation and had put her life back together. With three kids in elementary school she had it a lot tougher than he did. He slipped the ring back into the box, closed it, and set it back onto the table.

  “It’s time, Parker,” he spoke to himself. “I love you, Carissa. But, it’s time, honey. I have to move on.”

  2

  J ack walked into Parker’s new office. It was a lot bigger than their other offices across from the elevator foyer, and an order of magnitude nicer. The dark oak paneled walls and fine thick carpeting of the space made it feel like Parker had moved into a luxury apartment instead of a new office. Even the furniture from the old law firm was still there. All he’d needed to do was move his things. The room itself was big, with still empty built-in bookcases, a pair of matching leather sofas facing a fine wood coffee table, and a round meeting table with four nice chairs matching the rest of décor.

  Except for the furniture, the office was still a mostly empty space with only small stacks of files and other cheap-looking desk knick-knacks Parker had moved from his cube across the hall. With only a handful of accounts, it wasn’t like Parker needed a ton of space, the built-in fine wood file cabinets along the wall held just a few hanging files.

  “So how’s the new VP of Brown-nosing working out?” Jack leaned against the dark wood doorjamb of the office’s open door. Now into his early fifties, Jack had been balding for the past few years, except on the sides of his head. A little overweight and not the best dresser, he reminded Parker of his dad, sans the type-A attitude problem.

  Parker scowled at him. “You’re still sore about this, aren’t you?”

  “I’m sore about people stealing my accounts.”

  “I didn’t ‘steal’ your accounts. I didn’t know anything about this until yesterday when Mauri and I had lunch.”

  “Sure you didn’t. I worked for months getting these accounts onboard and suddenly they’re all yours.”

  “You? I closed three of the five, Jack.”

  “After I did all of the leg work.”

  “You don’t even know the hiring managers I signed with.”

  “That’s because I start at the VP level and work down. That’s how it’s done.”

  “Not. The hiring managers make the final decisions, not the VP’s. This isn’t the hospital. That’s not how the people in IT work.”

  Jack scoffed. “You just keep thinking that way, hotshot. That is what she calls you now, ‘hotshot’?”

  “She’s been calling me that since the day she hired me.”

  “I hired you.”

  Parker rolled his eyes.

  “So,” Jack stepped all the way into the large office closing the door, “when are you moving in?”

  “I’m already moving in.” Parker sat down in the high back tufted leather chair and dropped the larger of the files he’d already put away into the desk’s closer filing drawer.

  “I meant with Mauri.”

  “WHAT?” Parker gave him an ugly stare.

  “Everyone’s talking about it.”

  “Talking about what? I’m not moving in with Mauri!”

  “That’s not what I hear.”

  “Oh, good God! Is that what you think? I got a promotion because I’m sleeping with the boss?”

  “If it looks like a duck; quacks like a duck and swims like a duck. It’s probably a duck, Parker. How long have you two been seeing each other?”

  “I’m not. Sleeping. With Mauri.”

  “That’s not what she says.”

  Parker just stared at Jack for long moments. His head was spinning like he’s just found himself in an alternate reality he totally wasn’t aware of. He shook off the shock of hearing what he’d just heard. “Did Mauri tell you that?”

  “She didn’t have to. I heard it from others. Twenty people, Parker, it’s a small office. People talk.”

  “I don’t believe it. Whoever is spreading this doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

  “Well, you can try to deny it all you like
. But the ‘hotshot’ suddenly gets the promotion, the new office, new accounts to manage, and now you two are jetting off on a cruise to Alaska.”

  “I’m going on the cruise, not Mauri.”

  “So why’d she book herself and the kids?”

  “Huh?” Parker raised his brow. Mauri hadn’t said anything about herself and her kids going along.

  “C’mon, Parker, we’re not stupid around here.”

  “I didn’t know she was going—”

  “Sure you didn’t. The whole office knows why you got the promotion, Parker. Truth be told, if I were twenty years younger and looked like you, I’d have been doing Mauri a long time ago.”

  “For the last time, I’m not sleeping with Mauri.”

  “You know the problem with you, Parker? You—are a terrible liar.” Jack offered him a sarcastic grin and then left the new office closing the door.

  * * * * *

  “You didn’t tell me you were going on the Christmas cruise too.”

  Marui nodded, sitting behind her new desk in a corner office two doors down that was twice the size of Parker’s, a paper latte cup in her hand from the Starbucks fifteen floors below them. “And my kids; my little sister and my brother’s family as well. Is that okay?”

  Parker sighed with some relief.

  “Parker, are you alright?”

  “Yea. No. Mauri, why did you promote me? Really?”

  “I told you, really. Why?”

  “It’s just—” he hesitated. “People are saying that I got promoted—”

  “Because they think we’re sleeping together?” she raised her brow.