Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(59)
“What’s wrong?” Derek asked around a mouthful of crunchy goodness.
She waved a dismissive hand toward her phone. “Just my mom.”
“Checking up on you?” He grinned.
“That would be a first.” Leave it to her mother to sour her morning-after mood.
He pushed off the counter and sauntered over next to her, still clutching his breakfast. “You good?”
“Yeah.” She shook her head, trying to dislodge the unworthiness her mother always stirred within her. “Her cat is stuck in a cupboard and she can’t find Josh to come rescue him.”
He cut his eyes down to slits, and then at half-speed he asked, “You’re kidding me, right?”
“I wish I were.”
“You don’t look old enough to have an elderly parent.” He’d selected those words carefully. It wasn’t necessary, but she’d accept the kid gloves for now.
“She’s not old, just doesn’t like doing things for herself.” Bitterness for your family was probably a turn off. She was a real fucking prize. “Josh stops by her place a lot usually. She isn’t texting about the cat, not really. She wants to know where Josh is.”
“Then she should try texting him early on a Sunday.”
The lack of judgment from Derek loosened her lips. She couldn’t even blame it on the booze this time. “Ford isn’t much for letting him carry his phone right now.”
Derek stopped chewing the big bite he’d shoveled in his mouth. He lifted his chin and watched her. He read people, and understood her. He would read between the lines. Callie hadn’t broken any of the rules Ford had laid for her. She didn’t say she had an agreement with Ford. His own minion had spilled those beans. She hadn’t said Ford kidnapped her brother, but she had admitted his junkie status. It wasn’t a secret Ford was the biggest meth dealer in the high desert. If she could keep from giving specifics about the job, she was ninety-eight percent sure Ford wouldn’t send her Josh’s foot as a reminder of consequences.
There was no crunch to his bite when Derek finally chewed and swallowed the corn flakes in his mouth. “That’s his leverage on you, then. Your baby brother.”
“Older brother, but yes.”
“Wait? This jack-off lets his little sister clean up his messes?” She’d never let anyone get away with calling Josh names, but as Derek’s nostrils flared she recognized he was angry on her behalf. It’d been so long since she’d allowed herself to be mad at Josh, it was a relief to let someone else do it.
“I’m the most capable little sister.” She didn’t bother trying to fake smile; Derek only deserved real ones from her.
“Lucky bastard doesn’t deserve you,” he muttered. Malevolence rushed from him in waves, but Callie dove into those waters. He’d broken down her walls enough last night that she couldn’t put distance distance between them now. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and squeezed.
“Nice of you to say so,” she said as she relinquished him from her hug.
His cheeks brightened to a soft pink. “Yeah. So. This cat. Is it actually stuck somewhere?”
“Probably.”
“Is she going to get it out without your help?”
“Probably not.” Her groan was too much like that of a sullen teenager avoiding homework. She might be barely out of her teens, but Callie had been on her own for years, and so never had it good enough to bitch about homework.
“You want me to go with you?”
And have Derek meet her mom? “No,” she answered, too quickly. The flush on his cheeks brightened, and her stomach sank. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to inflict her brand of crazy on you.”
He nodded, but her words didn’t diminish the hurt she’d clearly caused. He tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal. “You don’t want to watch me spread the word to the Charmer’s regular clients about the consequences of dealing with Tess today anyway, so that’s cool.”
He wasn’t wrong, but guilt washed over her regardless. “I think I’d rather watch you scare the crap out of some idiots than have to be trapped in an apartment with my batshit mother, but she’ll start calling soon if I don’t go over there.”
He placed his empty dish in the sink, and then turned back to her. “In case I need you—for work—where does she live?”
Callie gave him the particulars, swearing she’d be back in a couple hours. She padded the time frame, because she needed more than a couple minutes to normalize herself after interacting with Zara.
They made plans to meet that night, to continue their search for Tess, but Callie’s stomach turned sour the second Derek walked out her door. Was instinct rearing its head? She was getting too comfortable around him, and a small part of her was worried. The rest of her kind of didn’t care.
The older Callie’s car got, the more it sucked gas. She pulled into the fill station, and headed inside to put ten bucks into the clunker. It would have to suffice for the next few days. Thumbing through the cash she had on hand, Callie had to admit that accepting the offer to skip work might have been the wrong move as far as her wallet was concerned.
Sailor-level swearing erupted near the coffee stand inside. Callie cracked a grin. Someone must really need their coffee. When she turned to see what had infuriated the man, her smile receded quickly. Joey, the square suburban dad she’d extracted a soul from, had spilled his cup across the counter. She’d already indulged in her caffeine fix, so she had no excuse for going to his aid. She nabbed a handful of napkins anyway. Her fingers locked around the bits of paper, once again her hands slipping to Nordic temperatures. After all the heat coursing through her body by way of magic and sex, she’d actually started to forget how much this sucked. She should have known a soul renter would set her off. They’d collected his rented one. She shook herself. Knowing better hadn’t been her forte for weeks at this point. She sighed, and extended the napkins clenched between her fingers toward him.