Read Online Rough Edges by Shannon K. Butcher - Free Book Online

engage in hand-to-hand combat before he could pull the trigger.
    Still, a slim chance was better than none at all.
    She charged on a bellow, going low to sweep his legs out from under him while making herself as small a target as possible. Before she’d made contact, a heavy boom exploded in the small space, followed by two more.
    Chuck stiffened and flailed as he spun around. His legs seemed to give out, and he slowly twisted as he toppled, landing on what had once been her desk.
    Standing in the doorway was Victor, gun trained on Chuck’s immobile body. Behind him, a crowd of armed men was forming in the hallway.
    â€œBella?” Victor asked, his voice tight with worry.
    â€œI’m good,” she said between labored breaths. “Pissed as hell, but still alive.”
    Chuck didn’t move. He’d taken three bullets at close range, delivered by a man who knew how to kill. She was certain Chuck was never getting up again.
    Adrenaline began trickling from her system, leaving her shaking and dizzy, with the oddest urge to break into a sobbing fit.
    She never cried—at least not in the last decade. And yet she knew that hot prickling in the corners of her eyes was a sure sign she was about to do just that.
    â€œClear the area,” ordered Victor. “This is a crime scene now.”
    Her office a crime scene? Even the thought was enough to send a giggle worming up her throat.
    Victor stepped inside the office and checked Chuck for a pulse. The grim look on his face told her there wasn’t one.
    His eyes met hers. Some hot, fierce emotion was shining just beneath that clear blue surface, but she was too wigged out to spend any time deciphering it. His voice was calm and quiet, but the words were clipped with anger. “You’re bleeding.”
    She looked at her hands. They were sticky and red, with shallow cuts left behind by the glass.
    She’d never before been squeamish, but the sight of her blood and the smell of gunpowder turned her stomach.
    Bella swallowed a couple of times to keep her breakfast where it belonged. “I need to go wash up.”
    Victor shifted slightly, blocking her path. “I can’t let you do that. Not until the police arrive and see the damage.”
    â€œI’ll get a first aid kit,” said someone from the hallway. She wasn’t sure who. Didn’t care.
    â€œShow me your hands,” Victor said.
    She held them out for inspection without even considering that she had an option to refuse him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that wasn’t like her, but she wrote it off as a bit of scrambled brain matter from Chuck’s fist hitting her cheekbone.
    â€œStay here,” he ordered.
    She did. He went only as far as the door, where he exchanged a few quiet words with someone in the hall. When Victor came back, he had some gauze pads in his hand, along with a roll of paper tape.
    â€œThe cuts aren’t too deep. You might need a couple of stitches in one spot.” His voice was quiet and soothing. “Your pants are bloody, too. I think it’s your blood, honey.”
    She thought about telling him that he didn’t need to treat her so gently, that she’d been hurt far worse than this and survived, but she liked the sound of his voice too much.
    â€œIs she okay?” asked Payton from the doorway.
    It wasn’t until she heard his voice that she realized that he’d been standing there. How long? She wasn’t sure, but if he’d been there for more than a second, she was worse off than she thought. She should have been aware of what was going on around her, especially with so much adrenaline running through her system. High stress situations were nothing new to her, and yet she felt . . . off. Not at all like herself.
    â€œShe’s going to be fine,” Victor said, carefully taping the gauze pads over her palms and fingers. He looked down at her, tipping her chin up so she