Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(13)

Callie’s fingers turned ghastly against the black flask. She swallowed her nerves and it felt like the sound of it filled the apartment. This is crazy, she thought.

“Hey.” Derek’s voice had lost its earlier nastiness. “Just press the opening to his sternum, and we’re done.”

Uncertainty tainted his words. Or maybe she was projecting.

She nodded twice, and then flipped open the lid on the flask. Her breath hitched when the small metal cap clinked against the side. Callie pressed the opening against McCabe’s chest as lightly as she could—the metal grazing his black tee shirt.

Nothing happened, as far as she could tell. Wasn’t something supposed to? The Soul Charmer had acted like any idiot could do this, but how was she supposed to know when it worked? Perhaps she was a special kind of idiot. God. She should have asked more questions.

She pressed the flask a little firmer. If she could get this done without knocking the wind out of McCabe, it would be a win.

Still nothing.

“Derek?” She whispered his name, unconcerned she was practically pleading. She just wanted it to be over as soon as possible. The whole situation was giving her the creeps.

“It should be warm.” His hushed tone matched hers.

Callie’s hands tightened on the flask. “It’s not.”

“Fuck.” And with one simple word, Derek shattered her hopes of a quick, simple first night on the job.

He nudged Callie with an elbow. She rocked back onto her haunches, putting the flask in her lap. She eased her grip, and warmth spread into her hands, fingertips first.

Derek eased his forearm from the other man’s face. The junkie’s smushed cheek righted itself with the elasticity of pudding. A violent storm roiled in Callie’s stomach. She might not wait until they left the apartment to puke.

“What did you do?” Derek’s metered words were for McCabe.

“I told you that I needed to explain.” Rubbing it in wasn’t going to do any good, Callie thought as she watched.

Derek didn’t bother repeating his question. Instead he took McCabe’s hand and twisted. The man yelped in obvious pain.

“She took it,” McCabe yelled. “I wanted to keep it. The fucking feeling, man, but she took it.”

Derek arched an eyebrow, but didn’t push further on the hand he held.

“She’s the one on those flyers down in Forrest. She wears those scarves. She came yesterday,” McCabe said, the words tumbling from his lips.

Callie couldn’t keep up. She’d seen the flyers, though. “The chakra massage lady?”

“Yeah.” McCabe’s deadened eyes darted in Callie’s direction. Damn it.

Derek finally released McCabe’s hand. “The soul didn’t belong to you. Why did you give it to her?”

McCabe scrambled backward a few feet, to a seated position on the floor. “Have you seen her? She’s, you know, distracting.”

“A woman gives you a hard-on, and you give over a soul that doesn’t belong to you?”

“She’s going to save the world, man.” McCabe believed everything he read, apparently.

Derek rolled his eyes as he lifted himself up from the floor. “She’s out for herself, McCabe. Like everyone else.”

Then he turned and held out a hand to Callie. “Ready to leave, doll?”

Confusion clouded her mind and it was as though stomach acid had torn through most of her stomach lining.

McCabe sputtered, “We good?” but Derek ignored him. Callie did, too.

She’d hit her emotional stress limit for the day, and answered Derek definitively: “Hell yes.”





—— CHAPTER FIVE ——

Callie’s brain buzzed with the burgeoning pain of a low-level headache. The rumbling of the motorcycle didn’t help. Questions that had been shell-shocked into submission at McCabe’s house finally flitted to the front of her mind.

This was only her first day working for the Soul Charmer, and it was darker than she imagined. Would the next thirteen days bring the same darkness, the same violence? Would she sink deeper and deeper into the dives she’d told herself she’d never stoop to? Were fourteen days enough to desensitize her to crime? Her throat tightened. She’d seen her share of street fights and back-alley brawls. This was different. Being a part of this was going to change her.

Her arms tightened around Derek. He grunted in response, but remained focused on the road. She clasped her hands together, nestling them next to his stomach. It was nice to hug someone without a cost. He wasn’t seeking money from her. He didn’t know her well enough to manipulate her like her mom did. He just let her press her face against his back and siphon his strength.

The hug couldn’t last, though. Fifteen minutes later, he eased the motorcycle into a parking space behind her car. It wasn’t a full day’s work. Could they already be done? She held her tongue as she climbed off the bike, hoping he would speak first, not wanting it to come off the wrong way.

But he stowed their helmets without a word. Was he angry with her for how things had gone down with McCabe? Maybe she’d imagined the rapport back at the apartment.

“Half day on day one? I like it.” She exhaled the light words on shaky breaths.

The corner of his mouth began to pull up. He shuttered the smile before it fully formed, though. “I wish. We need to talk to the boss.”