Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(66)

Derek cut off her babbling. “Your brother isn’t the first person he’s taken. Won’t be the last. We’ll get him back, though. He’s important to you, though, and that makes him important to me.”

She liked it, too. “You could—”

“I could do a lot of things, Callie,” he said, cutting her off. “What I want to do is spend time with you that doesn’t require your damn hands turning into torches or you being scared to tell me why you’re on the verge of tears, all because of a jackoff like Ford.”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to agree out loud with you calling him a jackoff.”

“See? I’m therapeutic, too. I can call him all the names you’re not ready to. I know him, remember? And I’m not scared.”

Callie grabbed his hand and squeezed hard. “You should be, though. Don’t you know what he does to people?” The word butcher pinged against the sides of her skull, but releasing it would mean stepping over a line she couldn’t walk back from.

“You forget I work for the man who can take people’s souls—and that’s the part he openly advertises. Ford knows better than to poke at me, which is why I’m concerned about his guy staking a claim outside your place when he knows I’m involved.”

Did Derek want to stake a claim? She’d let him sleep here. Did that count? Continuing whatever they had was appealing. No question. But she wasn’t a possession people could call dibs on. “No one is going to dictate my choices.”

He rolled his eyes. “Not trying to take over, but from the little you’ve told me, Ford’s holding your family over your head. Is it so bad that I want to help?”

“No,” Callie muttered, refusing to look at him. It was easier to be sullen when she avoided his earnest face.

She still held his hand, and he gave her a light squeeze. “Good. Now what’s Ford asking of you?”

“Asking makes it sound so polite.” She sighed, and went to retrieve the envelope Nate had given her. “I was specifically told you are not allowed to help me on the job.”

“Well, did he say I couldn’t aid in preparations?”

“You think semantics are going to cover our asses?”

“Ford might work dirty, but he’s a smart fucker. As long as the job gets done to specs, he won’t care.”

Maybe it was Derek’s confidence, or the way he kept protecting her, or maybe she was just sick of having to do this all alone. She’d have to do the job for Ford by herself, but at this point she’d take whatever help Derek could give her beforehand. “I’m sure you already know the police are working to get past the DNA muddling that soul renting creates.”

He let out a loud huff of a laugh. “You could say that.”

“Apparently Gem City PD is making progress, putting together some solid investigative work that could be used to pass new laws around soul magic. Ford thinks that’s bad news for him.”

“It’s bad news all around, but they’ll have enough proof to outlaw soul magic in the next few years either way.” Times like this it was hard to forget how immersed in this world Derek was, and how small Callie’s involvement really had been.

“Right. Well, Ford wants their research.”

“Not saying the cops are rocket scientists, but they’ve got to be backing that shit up. It’s not like you can shred some papers and it all goes away.”

“They do, but they aren’t allowed to use remote servers because of some state law intended to protect government information. So their back-up servers are in some room at the forensics lab.”

“The satellite building off I-5?” He relaxed into the couch, but his lips tightened. His mind was going a mile a minute, she could tell, but sprinting alongside him wouldn’t be good for Callie’s health.

“Yes, but I can see you’re getting ideas. You don’t need to be getting ideas. I have a whole pile of where to go and what to do from Ford.”

“My ideas might be better than his.” He winked.

“This isn’t a game, Derek. Yes, your ideas are probably a thousand times better than Ford’s, but if I don’t do what he wants, I get my brother returned in tiny, bloody packages. If you think I have issues now, imagine me after opening a box with my sibling’s severed foot.”

Derek’s hands were gentle as he pulled her against him. “Sorry. Bad time to try and lighten the mood. Don’t let Ford’s reputation wreck you. We’ll get your brother back. In one piece. Let me help you get out of this.”

She nodded against his chest, praying she could hold back the tears.

“What do they need you to do this for? His crew is aces at B&E.”

She shrugged. It didn’t matter why. “My face isn’t on a wanted poster.”

He arched a brow, but didn’t push the subject. “What about the people who did the research? They aren’t going to up and forget their projects.”

Callie blinked back tears. “I’m trying not to think about that part, but Ford’s crew is ‘handling’ that part.”

“He’ll probably just scare them.” Derek couldn’t even make the lie sound believable.

Callie played along anyway. “Yeah. Sure.”