Borrowed Souls: A Soul Charmer Novel

by Chelsea Mueller

  “You sure?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

  He didn’t scare her. Her confidence brimmed as desire welled. “I’m not fucking subtle.”

  “No, you’re fucking gorgeous though.”

  She was ready to reply with a similar compliment, but Derek was done with banter, and Callie liked a focused man. He wrapped his arms around her, and turned them both, laying her on the couch on her back. He stepped away, and she instantly missed his touch. All she could do was watch as he deftly unbuttoned and removed his jeans and boxers, and then reached for hers. No matter how much of a hurry she was in, she wasn’t going to stop him from helping her disrobe. Warmth trailed behind Derek’s fingers as he dragged her pants and panties down her legs.

  He took a moment to put on the condom, and Callie watched with fascination. Now would be the time for regrets, but she had none. If he’d faltered at the Charmer’s tonight, this would have been a bad idea. But he’d come through for her. He’d protected her more times in their short time together than anyone else had. It was nice to have a person who’d rally for her, and it was damn nice to have him naked and all to herself.

  Derek’s kisses were no longer gentle or tentative. He went deeper with each one, taking control. She didn’t mind. He gave her enough of his weight atop her to spur thoughts of being delightfully small, but held back enough so she wasn’t crushed under his bulk. She’d expected him to enter her immediately, but he waited. As she arched her body in response to his fervent kiss, his length slowly rubbed against her. The inferno borne of this connection was hotter than any she’d experienced before. She dug her nails into his back. “Now.”

  He kneeled between her legs. He traced the tip of his length down her sex and back again, his eyes locked on where their bodies would connect. She arched again, and he spared a glance up at her breasts before continuing to tease. She didn’t need to get worked up any further; she was already close to redlining, and this was turning her delirious. “Please,” she managed to eke out, despite the string of curse words ordering him to act funneling through her mind.

  He didn’t need any further urging. Thank God. She didn’t need an extra soul to mask her from this act. She wanted him marked on her soul. The rushes of need and desire and connection fused in a miasma of pleasure. With each thrust of Derek’s hips, Callie slipped further into bliss. She grabbed at him, trying to pull him even closer. His lips found hers again, and she went flying over the edge.

  She’d given Derek more than she’d planned, but as his body covered hers, she had no regrets.

  —— CHAPTER FOURTEEN ——

  One dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, grape jam, a pound of sliced smoked turkey, a nearly empty jar of mayonnaise, a gallon of milk, and a family size box of Frosted Flakes. Despite the grocery store trip the day before, Callie’s kitchen was significantly understocked.

  Correction: it wasn’t stocked for company. Derek’s lingering presence in her bedroom was welcome, but still unexpected.

  His arm had been crushing her when she awoke. He must have gained weight in his sleep, because it took her a good hour to extract herself from beneath it. Though the initial shock of finding him still in her bed—and still really naked—had taken up the first several minutes. He hadn’t bailed in the middle of the night, which both baffled and enchanted her. Callie hadn’t had a guy stay the night in at least two years. Booting him would have been wrong after how much they’d drank, she started to tell herself, but that justification was so flimsy, her conscience called bullshit.

  Derek looked vulnerable laying in her bed. No leather to shield him. No scowl on his face to deter indifference. The covers had shifted low enough to let her see the dimples in his lower back. Callie had peeked below before tugging the comforter up. That ass wasn’t even the reason she’d let him stay. It wasn’t even that he’d fucked her into next Tuesday. Though, that wasn’t hurting the case. The truth was, safety was a scarce commodity in Callie’s life. Derek had given her that with a healthy dose of understanding last night. Hell if that didn’t mean something to her. Had she divulged enough last night to establish the connection both ways? Did she even want him that close, to see all the muck trapped inside? She undid her ponytail and reset it as a sloppy bun. At least she could control her hair.

  Her phone had rung an hour earlier. Yesterday had been her day off. Today was not, and she’d totally forgotten. “Shit, Lou, I’m sorry,” she’d answered.

  “I thought you might be dead.”

  “Dead? I already have a melodramatic mother. Give me a bit more credit.” She tried to tease. Easier than accepting the fact she might be about to lose her job.

  “You come in on your day off, and now you’re missing work. You’re never late. What’s been up with you lately? Everything okay?” Lou’s words were truly devoid of judgment.

  Callie glanced at the clock above the stove. Ninety minutes was more than late. “I’m really sorry. It’s just—” How was she supposed to finish that sentence? Lying to Louisa would wrap Callie in a fresh layer of guilt, and she could barely breathe through her shame swaddling as it was.

  “Just life, honey. Don’t I know it.” Lou knew too much. “Your mama causing problems?”

  “When isn’t she? I can’t believe I did this, though. Do you need me to fill in tonight?” Derek might be able to cover for her with the Charmer.

  “No. We’re full up. You’re all right, though?” The question was benign, but the motherly underpinnings struck hard.

  Callie had focused on the towel rack in lieu of the mirror while brushing her teeth earlier that morning. Whatever it took to ignore the faint bags under her eyes. That darkness hadn’t been borne in the throes of soul magic abuse. She didn’t get it from the emotional battery of gathering vagrant souls from temporary hosts or the hot-cold spectrum her skin had endured the last few days. No, her dark circles were earned the old-fashioned way. “Yeah, Lou. Just tired.”

  Her boss was quiet for long enough that Callie had to confirm the call hadn’t dropped. Louisa’s words came slowly, but clearly. “I know that brother of yours is a problem. If you need a few days to sort it out, take them. I’m not going to give your job away.”

  “Thanks.” Callie wasn’t sure she could accept. Her bank account wouldn’t appreciate the decision.

  Lou understood screwed up families and the myriad ways they could destroy your life, but the olive branch only extended so far. “Don’t thank me yet. If you ditch on me again, though, I can’t keep you. Favorite or not.”

  “Right.” Well, shit. The way Ford and the Charmer were running her, she needed the time. She could take it and ration the food she had in the pantry, or she could promise to show and risk failing and losing her actual source of income long term. “Can I take a few days? When I’m back, I’ll be my normal self.” God, she hoped she wasn’t lying.

  An hour had passed and Louisa’s offer continued to feel surreal. Bosses being cool about employees not showing was a myth. Unless you were in a ditch, they weren’t supposed to tolerate such things. But somehow she’d earned that kind of trust, and now as she continued sweating out last night’s alcohol, she had to find a way to keep from fucking it up.

  Breakfast would have been a good distraction, if she knew what to make. Lou made those decisions at work. At home it was on her, and she had a naked man in the other room to consider. Was Derek a breakfast eater? Would he expect the big, manly, eggs-and-meat meal she couldn’t provide? Her empty stomach gurgled a warning, a roiling notice of eat or puke. Decision time.

  Turned out the Frosted Flakes came in a box that big for a reason.

  Derek lumbered into the kitchen a little after ten. Despite the extra sleep, he didn’t look all that much more rested than she did. He did, however, look far better in low-slung jeans. A break on the bedhead was warranted.

  “You got anything to eat?” The rasp of his voice was the deepest she’d ever heard it.

  Callie gestured to the big box of sugary corn flakes she’d l
eft on the counter. Her bowl was already rinsed and in the sink.

  “Frosted Flakes, huh?” The corners of his mouth began to curl and his eyes danced with mischief. Perhaps last night hadn’t ruined everything.

  “Best option in the house.” With her shrug she let go of the shame of not providing more for him. He’d gotten laid like a pro and she was making him smile the next morning. What more did a man really need?

  He nodded. “It’s common knowledge they’re grrrreat.” His Tony the Tiger impression was spot on.

  Her laugh chimed throughout the small space. When was the last time her laugh hadn’t been weighted with sarcasm or wrought from her gut without glee? As far as reasons for missing work went, Derek wasn’t a bad choice. “Bowls are in the cupboard next to the fridge, and spoons in the drawer directly below.”

  His broad back worked, flexing and releasing fluidly, as he set about helping himself to the best cereal she had. An echo of the heat that had ensnared her before flickered in her abdomen, but she let it smolder. She wanted to believe there was a real connection between them, but she wasn’t going to risk botching that potential by leaping at him. He viewed her as strong, and regardless of her position on the matter, she wasn’t going to showcase weakness now. Putting her desire above keeping her brother alive would be pretty weak by anyone’s standards.

  Derek leaned against her counter, cradling the bowl of cereal to his chest and ladling bites to his mouth. He was at home here. Pride flashed through her, making the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her phone made a muffled honking noise as it vibrated against the countertop. Spell broken, she glanced at the screen, and then readjusted her gaze to the ceiling, trying to be patient. It didn’t work.

  “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.

  Joey’s ass collided with the metal counter as he scuttled away from her. A stack of Styrofoam cups toppled behind him. “How did he know?” His eyes darted from her face to the door and back again in rapid succession.

  “Know what? I thought you could use some napkins.” She extended them to him again. He had to yank hard to get them out of her icy grip.

  He dropped t
he wad on the counter, and then wrapped his arms around his torso. His hands were tight against his upper arms and grated up and down. The soothing motion warped by pressure left red streaks in its wake.

  “What are you doing here?” Why was he so scared of her? The grey accent to his visage was new.

  Her brows screwed upward. “It’s a gas station.”

  “Ha. Yeah. Sure.” His stilted movements reminded her of Josh coming off a high.

  Why was she involving herself in this? “What’s wrong?”

  Joey glared at the floor for so long she thought he’d forgotten she was there. Whatever he was fucked up on had done a number. She wouldn’t have pegged him as a user of more than magic, but she wasn’t exactly batting a thousand on character assessments. “She came back,” he finally whispered.

  “Who?”

  “The woman who wanted the soul.” His voice dropped low, but the words still pierced Callie’s heart. Tess.

  She fought against her clenching jaw to ask, “Did you give it to her?”

  He looked up at her, eyes blazing as unshed tears welled against his lids. “Not mine. She said she needed permission to take mine … ”

  Her knees almost buckled, but she had to ask. “But?”

  “I had another one from the Charmer.”

  That snapped her back into reality. “Already?”

  He had the audacity to look sheepish. “I needed it.” He let out a mirthless laugh. “I guess she needed it more.”

  “What do you mean?” Joey’d asked Tess for money last time. Had she paid up?

  “When I told her no, she just took it anyway.” He met Callie’s gaze, the plea blatant. “I wouldn’t have betrayed the Charmer. You know that.”

  She mostly believed him. “Yeah. How’d she do it, though?”

  He grasped her arms, and frost surged forward immediately under her skin. He let go before it could bite him. “She dug her nails into my shoulder and then put her mouth at the hollow of my neck. It wasn’t like when you took it.”

  “She sucked it from you?” There was no way to conceal how gross that was. Callie did not say the words “soul vampire,” but holy shit was she thinking them loudly.