Salvaged harper security.., p.1
Salvaged (Harper Security Ops Book 9), page 1
SALVAGED
Harper Security Ops: Magnus & Maren
A.K. Evans
Copyright © 2022 by A.K. Evans
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Cover Artist
Cover artwork © Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations
www.okaycreations.com
Editing & Proofreading
Mackenzie Letson, Nice Girl Naughty Edits
www.nicegirlnaughtyedits.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Epilogue
Preview of Silenced
Also by A.K. Evans
About the Author
PROLOGUE
Magnus
“Are you sure you don’t want to grab dinner tonight?”
The fact that I’d been paying just enough attention for that question to register was all the evidence I needed for me to know that the answer I was going to give was the correct one, but it didn’t change that it wouldn’t be easy to deliver.
It never was.
I’d just pulled on my jeans and bent down to grab my sneakers. After slipping my feet into them and tying them, I stood up straight, moved toward the nightstand to grab my wallet, and said, “I’m sure.”
I picked up my wallet, slid it into my pocket, and turned to move toward the exit. That’s when I was stopped in my tracks, because I nearly knocked Eloise over. I looked down at her face as she pressed in close and slid her palm up from my chest toward my shoulder. Once her hand crept over toward my neck and shifted into my hair at the back of my skull, she offered, “I could cook instead.”
I wanted Eloise to cook for me even less than I wanted to grab dinner out with her. That wasn’t to say I thought she was a bad cook. Quite frankly, I didn’t exactly know what her skills were in the kitchen.
I knew what she could do in a bed, and that was the only thing that had interested me about her. Eloise was a decent lay, she gave great head, and she was single. That was all I needed. It was all I was interested in ever having with her, something I’d made clear from the very start.
Despite my insistence, Eloise didn’t stop trying. She made repeated attempts to turn what we had between us into something more.
It was never going to happen.
“I appreciate that, babe, but you know it’s not going to happen,” I told her.
Eloise leaned her weight into me, forcing my arm to wrap around her waist. Then she lifted onto her toes and kissed my jaw before moving her mouth toward my ear. “It’d be fun,” she whispered. “You and I would be great together.”
No, we wouldn’t.
Even though I had made that clear on multiple occasions, letting her down as gently as I could, it seemed Eloise was determined. In any other case, I might have had a deeper appreciation for someone with a spirit like Eloise’s. But this wasn’t any other case.
This was me.
This was my life.
This was how it had been for years.
And I’d never make the same mistake twice.
So, I reached my hand up, curled my fingers around her wrist, and tugged her hand away from my head. After lowering it between us, I offered a sympathetic look and maintained, “I’m not interested in anything serious, Eloise. You know that.”
Disappointment washed over her as she nodded her understanding. “I know,” she murmured.
Hating the sight of her despondency, I had no choice but to ease my own conscience. “I think you’re fantastic,” I started. “And if you’re looking for something permanent, I’m happy to take a step back, so you can find that with someone.”
“I’ve got you, though,” she reasoned. “Why would I give you up when what we’ve got is so good?”
Eloise and I had nothing more than a physical relationship. We didn’t have dinner together or go on dates. Our conversations centered around discussing the time and the place of our hookups. She hadn’t gotten anything from me beyond being given a good night.
So, it was almost sad that she thought she’d been given enough to call what we had good.
Granted, it wasn’t bad, and I was happy to indulge the both of us for as long as she was willing. But I had no desire for more.
Not with her.
Not with anyone.
I should have ended it right then and there, telling her this couldn’t happen again. She was becoming more and more attached, and I knew I’d never feel the same for her in return.
But I didn’t do that.
Deciding it was best to let her down gently and keep the door open for my own selfish needs, I said, “If you’re up for keeping things as they are and are going to be around, I’ll give you a call sometime this weekend.”
More disappointment moved through her. Even if she didn’t like being let down, Eloise still accepted my offer. Nodding, she replied, “I’ll be around.”
With that, I released my hold on her, stepped back, and moved toward the door. Eloise followed behind me. When I made it to the front door, I opened it, looked back, and said, “I’ll call you.”
“Okay.”
“Later.”
“Bye, Magnus.”
Before I knew it, I’d gone home, showered, and was back in my truck on the way to work. By the time I pulled into the Harper Security Ops parking lot, my conversation with Eloise was long forgotten.
But I should have heeded the advice of that voice that rang in the back of my head this morning when I selfishly dangled that line out in front of Eloise, never giving her what she wanted all while being unwilling to put a stop to what we had between us.
I took advantage of her attraction and devotion to me, and I was about to have karma sneak up and bite me in the ass.
Because it started the moment I walked through the front door. I walked into work, and I was thrown for a moment at what I saw or, more specifically, what I didn’t see.
My younger sister, Avalon, worked as a member of the administrative staff for Harper Security, and she was always sitting at the front reception desk whenever I walked in.
She was not there this morning, and that was unusual, even if not a complete impossibility.
Not seeing her, when I had anticipated she’d be there, gave me reason for pause. I tried to think back and recall if she’d mentioned being late to work today, but nothing came to mind.
That’s when movement out of the corner of my eye shifted my attention from the empty seat behind Avalon’s desk and to my left.
My sister had come to an abrupt halt.
“There you are,” I said, moving around the desk and in her direction.
Avalon, who was easily the most talkative and bubbly personality in the entire building, was anything but her usual self.
The look on her face indicated something was wrong.
Not one to freeze in moments like this, I quickly closed the distance between us. “Is everything okay?”
My sister didn’t respond with words. Her worried eyes roamed over my face as a pained expression washed over her. But that pain was mixed with fear and panic.
No matter that I could read the situation from just one look at her face, it was that she wasn’t speaking that told me that whatever was going on wasn’t going to be good. Avalon was rarely rendered speechless.
So, it was no surprise that I assumed the absolute worst for her. “Are you okay? Did something happen with Damon?”
Damon was my best friend, and he and my sister had finally gotten together after years of holding back their feelings from one another. There was no question if things had gone sour between them that Avalon would be devastated.
Then again, I should have known that if something had happened between them, it was likely my sister never would have made it into work at all today.
Finally, after what felt like several agonizing hours, Avalon rasped, “Someone is here to see you.”
I felt my brows knit together. I hadn’t been expecting that to be her response. “Okay. Who is it?”
She pointed behind where we were standing and said, “You can go into the conference room. They’re waiting in there.”
Something about this moment felt strange. Tense.
I didn’t quite know what to make of it, especially because Avalon was acting so out of character.
Thinking it might be best to go in and deal with whatever this was so I could ease whatever was burdening her, I nodded and said, “Alright.”
Without waiting for a response, I moved in that direction
Because my sister knew all about what I’d gone through so many years ago. There was no question she would understand the magnitude of this moment. What surprised me was the fact she even allowed it to happen.
My hand still gripping the door handle to the conference room door firmly in my grasp, I found myself paralyzed by the sight of the woman in front of me.
“I need your help.”
Years.
God, years had passed without hearing her voice, and now she was here asking for my help.
I shouldn’t have been surprised.
She always did.
While I undoubtedly felt a bevy of emotions at that moment, there was not a single thing about me that was feeling even remotely charitable.
Because after all these years, after the harsh lesson I’d learned, I wanted nothing to do with Maren Casey—my high school sweetheart, and the woman who destroyed my life.
ONE
Magnus
Seventeen years earlier
The popular kid.
The guy who was friends with everyone.
That was me.
I didn’t know what it was like to feel anything but loved and admired. Although I was a sophomore in high school, I’d never known anything but respect and approval, even from the seniors.
I wanted to believe that it was simply the result of having been in the same school district from kindergarten and being friendly with everyone. I wanted to believe it was all just because I was a nice guy.
Because I was a nice guy.
But I had a feeling that while all of that was possibly part of the reason, the reality was that it likely was the result of me being the starting quarterback for the varsity football team.
High school students, teachers, and parents of kids in the district loved a star athlete, and it was safe to say as someone who had this year and two more to go, I was well liked.
I didn’t know what it was like to be the new kid, to be the outcast. And I felt extremely fortunate not to know what that was like. I couldn’t imagine being moved away from all that I’d known, especially my friends, but I had no doubt it would have been difficult.
And while my social status afforded me the luxury of never really having to worry, I wondered if the unique position I was in came with another level of responsibility.
Most people probably wouldn’t have agreed with that. I was the star; I’d earned this reward.
But there was something that constantly nagged at me. I might have been a sophomore, but people would listen to me.
And after nearly two months of watching something happen, I figured it was time for me to stand up and do the right thing.
If there was one thing I knew, it was the kind of person I wanted to be, the kind of man I wanted to be. A lot of my friends or people who knew of me might have thought they knew where my life was headed, but they couldn’t have been more wrong.
I knew where I was going, and I believed I had to start living that life now. I had to start making choices now that were a reflection of my beliefs.
So, I had to stand up.
Standing up to do the right thing now, to fight for and protect those who couldn’t, was what I felt compelled to do.
Maren Casey needed my help.
She was the new girl from a rival school, and she couldn’t seem to catch a break. I thought I could be the friend she needed right now. My hope was that, in time, others would give her a chance.
I lived in Delaware and had been enrolled in the same school district since kindergarten. All I knew was that Maren had moved to our district from our rival’s district a week after the school year started.
To say she’d had it rough since arriving would have been an understatement.
Since I’d just finished football practice, I figured this was the best time to do something to help her. The field we practiced on was right next to the school’s track, and there was a set of bleachers off to the side of the track, since meets would take place there.
Maren was currently sitting at the very top of those bleachers. I got there, started climbing, and it wasn’t until I was about halfway up when Maren lifted her gaze from whatever she’d been focused on in her lap. Her back was against the side wall, and her knees were bent, her feet up on the seat.
Once she noticed that I not only had my attention on her and was coming in her direction, I saw the change. She immediately tensed up, so I did my best to offer a friendly smile.
It didn’t work.
I guess I should have expected that, considering what I knew she’d experienced since she arrived here.
By the time I made it to her, Maren looked about ready to bolt.
“Hey,” I said.
Confusion washed over her face, and she remained silent as she assessed me. It was clear she didn’t trust me, and I couldn’t say I blamed her.
So, I sat down right beside where she had her feet planted on the bench and tried again. “I’m Magnus. Magnus McCoy.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, her voice holding an edge of irritation. “You’re the star quarterback for the varsity football team.”
While she wasn’t saying anything that was untrue, something about the words she said and the tone in which she said them didn’t leave me feeling very good about myself.
Doing my best to ignore that feeling, so I could push forward with what I came here to do, I replied, “You don’t like football?”
Her head jerked slightly. Evidently, my question had caught her off guard. She remained hesitant, even as she returned, “I do.”
“So, do you just like track and field better, or is it me that you have the problem with?” I questioned her, doing my best to keep the sound of my voice neutral.
“What would make you think I like track and field better?” she countered.
I smiled at her before I revealed, “I saw you running around the track here while I was in the middle of practice.”
If it was shock I’d been going for, I would have been successful. Maren’s lips parted in surprise, and it was at that moment I really took notice of just how beautiful she was.
Most notable about her appearance were her striking light blue eyes. She had sleek, platinum blonde hair that landed just below her chin, and her bottom lip was ever-so-slightly plumper than her perfectly shaped top lip. Her body was long and lean, and she had to be at least five foot eight, if not an inch taller.
“I started running after school about a month ago,” she finally replied. “I was never a runner.”
Tipping my head to the side, I wondered, “What changed?”
Maren shot me a dubious look. “Is this where you’re going to do it?”
“Do what?”
“Give me grief or start picking on me.”
Although I had a feeling I knew what her answer was going to be, I played stupid. “Why would I do something like that?”
She shrugged, even though it was clear she knew precisely what she wanted to say. Sarcasm was dripping from her words when she fired back, “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I can’t believe that you would actually want to know anything about me. Unless, of course, you’re planning to take whatever information you get from me, so that you can share it with all of your buddies and make everything worse for me that it already is.”
If it hadn’t already been clear before, it was clear now. She didn’t trust me. I couldn’t say I blamed her.
“Maren, I’m not trying to do anything to make things worse for you,” I assured her.
Whether or not she believed me, I didn’t know, because the response I got wasn’t the one I was expecting. “You know my name?” she asked, seemingly surprised that I did.
“Yes. You’re Maren Casey.”
