Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(41)

Callie shrugged. Not much she could do about it now. “Do I need to wait until you’ve ingested more booze to get an answer about my newfound magical ability?”

“She’ll be back quick.” He offered her a quick smile.

Callie glared. His charm wasn’t working now.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “The magic is functioning as it did before. You’re just detecting something different.”

“‘Different’? Derek, I like you, but come the fuck on.”

He grinned at her, more focused on the compliment than Callie’s exasperation. “What?”

“You owe me more than some cryptic answer. Your Charmer changed me, and now I’m playing a perpetual game of hot/cold, and unlike you, I’m finding it pretty goddamn unamusing.”

“True enough.” He paused while the waitress delivered their drinks, nudging the pink and green sugar skulls adorning the table to the side, and nodded when they admitted they hadn’t looked at their menus yet. When she left, he continued. “Remember I told you how the people with less-than-whole souls make your hands go cold?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t explain the fiery hands.”

“It kind of does.” His teasing tone might have made her fluttery another time. However, Callie’s bullshit tank was full. Either her unwavering stare would crack him, or the tequila would. Either way, she’d cling to her dark mood until he fessed up.

“The opposite thing is happening,” he finally added when it was clear she wasn’t about to speak again until he shared more. “I told you before, the heat is a reaction to too much soul magic.”

“That wasn’t just heat. I swear to God there was literally fire inside my hands. My skin was damn near flayed.” She’d have nightmares remembering how true it’d been in the moment, even though all signs of the earlier carnage had disappeared.

He sighed. It was a heavy, masculine sound. She could bewilder this man. Callie softened enough to take a sip of her water and settle into her chair. “That’s because Bianca wasn’t your normal soul renter,” he said.

“What’s so special about her?” Did it sound like she was pouting? Callie had to snap out of that.

“To cause that kind of reaction in you? She’d have to have more than two souls in her. Might explain why she’s always moving.” He tacked on the last sentence absent-mindedly.

Callie snatched it. “‘Always moving’? Why?”

“It’s hard enough getting two souls to share a single body. Imagine a walk-in closet as your living space. If you had one roommate, it’d be all asses and elbows. Uncomfortable, but endurable. Now shove four people in the same space. Even breathing would get hard in those cramped quarters.”

Derek didn’t strike her as the kind of man who shared spaces at all. Each time she wrapped her arms around him on the motorcycle, his body stiffened, and not in a “touch my dick” kind of way. Only after a moment and a deep breath could he begin relax into her presence.

Undeterred, Callie asked, “What does that have to do with her moving?”

She’d have nightmares about what she did to Bianca. The more she could diminish her guilt with facts, the better.

“We’ve got bigger problems than the stupid shit Bianca does,” Derek said.

She rolled her eyes.

“What?” Derek asked, half amused, half irritated.

“We were there specifically for her. So, I’m calling your bluff there. We need to talk about her.”

“About what she knows about Tess,” he corrected in a patronizing tone. He consistently made her blood boil, but not always for the best reasons.

“Maybe the reason why Bianca’s been maxing out her body on souls is related.” Callie’s words were meant to taunt, but Derek eyes brightened.

“You just might be on to something, doll.” He scratched his chin, and a few moments later, he nodded. She looked down to finally peruse the menu; an entire page was dedicated to enchiladas. Even in the short time she’d known him, she had picked up that silence often pulled more truth out of Derek than cajoling. If one could base such an assessment on mere days together.

The waitress returned while Derek was still lost in thought, so Callie ordered Christmas-style chicken enchiladas for them both, with the waitress’s promise it was the thing everyone ordered. Her sides began to ache as she clenched her stomach. Faking calm and being relaxed were two different things. She could only pretend for so long. Gulping half the glass of water in front of her didn’t help, but she wasn’t willing to drop her guard enough to steal a swig of Derek’s golden margarita.

The restaurant wasn’t loud enough to drown all the unanswered questions still bouncing around her head. Maybe they’d learned how to swim. “What’s it feel like to rent a soul?” She might be shitty at small talk, but she could offer top-notch random outbursts.

He snapped out of his thoughts. “I hear it’s different for everyone.”

“What’s it like for you?”

He avoided eye contact. “Never done it.”

“How can you work for him, if you’ve never used his services?”

His attention snapped to her. Bright eyes met her questioning gaze. “I’m good at my job. I don’t need to dabble in the magic to make people give souls back.”