Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(79)
“No, but everyone’s real clear on what needs to happen. I need to know you’re clear, too.”
“Crystal.” Her throat squeezed.
“How’s Mom?” His question startled her.
“Fine. Fucking cat hid in the cupboard again. She wanted you to rescue him.”
“She does better when she’s around family.”
What the hell? He loved laying the bait out for her. “Since when? She’s batshit around me.”
“She isn’t good at expressing it. I’m more like her, you know?” His words underscored the hidden message: but you take care of me.
He did this needling when he wanted guilt hanging like heavy chains around Callie’s neck. “You didn’t call to talk about Mom.”
“I wanted to make sure you were ready for tomorrow. Soon this will be over, and I’ll be back home.”
“And done with that junk?”
“I’m done with all this. But I don’t have a chance unless you hold up your end.”
Alarms flared in her mind, but her mouth didn’t care. “I’m the one who always follows through, Josh. Don’t forget.”
“I’m so much like Mom. I just need to know you have my back.”
An invisible knife cut deep into Callie’s waist. “I’ve always had your back.” She spoke slowly, like it could actually cool her anger. It didn’t work.
“Sure. I’ve just never fucked up this bad.” His nervous laugh did nothing for her.
He wanted to go into the past. She followed him, like always. “I called them on her because she was a danger to me. You were gone.”
“I know,” he said, repeating those placating words. She’d heard them so many times they no longer held any meaning or sincerity.
“Sure.” Child Protective Services had been happy to separate her from her habitually neglectful mother. Her brother hadn’t stepped in after he’d moved out. He’d been busy working or, at least he’d said he was at the time. Later she realized he’d just been getting high. Zara went off the deep end when Josh left. She stole the food Callie brought home and left her alone for weeks. So, yeah, Callie had made an anonymous tip about her mother. Josh had agreed to sign the papers to be her legal guardian. He helped save her from Zara, and let her be an unofficial emancipated minor. He’d kept the secret of how CPS got involved from Zara, but his own guilt over what they’d done sent him begging at their mother’s feet for love (and secretly, forgiveness) every chance he got.
“We’ve got each other’s backs when it’s most important. I know you’ll come through, baby sis. I believe you.”
He was right about that. No matter how much he drove her crazy, Josh would have her back. He simply hadn’t had the capacity to do so lately. Sober Josh, though? He was a man you wanted in your corner. Derek could be friends with Sober Josh. Callie bit her tongue. No need to share that thought with either of them. One step at a time.
—— CHAPTER TWENTY ——
“You’ve got to take that thing in for me.” Callie foisted the soul-filled flask at Derek. She couldn’t face the Soul Charmer again. She didn’t want to know if Tess was still in the basement. She didn’t need to see the burns on the woman’s legs again. The Charmer wouldn’t resist taunting her in front of Derek. She might not climb out of the well of shame after that.
He stepped backward. “Nope.”
“The Charmer likes you better. It’ll be easier for you.”
“He likes you just fine.”
“You wouldn’t be fit to collect souls today if he hadn’t worked his mojo on you. Clearly, this means you’re his golden boy—which, ew—but go with it.”
Derek pulled her close and his laugher shook her chest, too, lightening her thoughts. “Fine. I’ll take it, but not because it’s easier for me.”
Tilting her head as far back as she could, Callie met his gaze. “My feminine wiles got to you. Finally.”
“My desire to keep you out of jail trumps your wiles.” The quick squeeze he gave her rear was possessive and flirty. Whatever concoction the Charmer had used on him, he was top-notch Derek today. Much of her leftover regret at going to the Soul Charmer’s shop evaporated with that realization.
“Though, feel free to seduce me at your leisure, doll,” he added.
Derek was determined to collect souls that morning. Wounds be damned. He would have found a way to go even without her blessing, so she had agreed in the name of keeping him whole. She needed to balance out the heals/hurts scale after last night. The Railyard District made Callie cringe, but ostensibly the soul renters there were artists, and were quick to give up their borrowed souls so they could get back to blowing glass and welding metal. Derek had suggested she meet him there for brunch, but she was not going to try vegan omelets, even on someone else’s dime.
Despite the magic and everything that had happened with Tess, the mood was light. Derek’s healing deserved the credit. His chest was still tender, but the wound was already closed. At noon all that was left was a dark magenta streak. No matter her stance on soul magic and the bastards who used it, Callie had to admit it was pretty badass.
The levity from his recovery couldn’t overshadow what was to come hours later. Taking the step from petty thief to legit criminal hadn’t ever been on Callie’s life agenda. It was going to happen, though. Tonight. And she still needed a way to halt Derek’s involvement. His feelings for her were destined to implode when he learned she’d tortured Tess. He let people think he’d kill them, but he didn’t leave scars on his marks. Callie had done real damage. It’d be doubly disastrous if he had guilt from helping her with a police breakin. Joy receded from her body, seeping from her bared feet and burying itself in the thin carpet. She probably needed to vacuum.