Page 120 of Taming Grumpy Dr. Beast

“Fine,” he said, sounding like a petulant child.

Nivens must not have made a move to do what Jaxon said fast enough because his tone took on a steely edge. “The call. Now.”

“Really, Dr. Beast, how do you expect me to reach her? What if she’s not home?”

“Here’s her cell number. Call it.”

Uh oh. The phone in my purse buzzed. Once. Twice. I took a deep breath and answered the call. Before I could say anything, Nivens spoke.

“Hello, Dr. LeBeau. I’d like to speak to you about a recent decision we’ve made.”

I squeaked out a muffled, “Okay.” And moved a little further from the door to hide that I was in the hall.

“We’ve decided not to pursue legal action against you or your father. We have also reinstated your spot in the restoration program. You will graduate with your doctoral degree as planned in January.” He huffed. “While we can’t keep your father on staff, I have ended his contract without repercussions.”

I covered my hand over the phone and spoke softly. “Are you kidding me?” While I could burst in there and tell them I was here, in person, part of me wanted to string Nivens along.

I hated him.

“No, this is not a joke, Dr. LeBeau,” he responded, indignantly. “You can thank Dr. Beast for allowing us to excuse your most recent behavior.”

He confirmed what I already knew. Jaxon was giving the book up for me. I stayed silent.

“Dr. LeBeau are you still there?”

“Uh, yes.”

“He wrote up a report about the exemplary work you did restoring the book, and in fact, through his generosity, he’s donating the book to our school.”

“Are you blackmailing him?” I spat out, already knowing the truth.

A gasp of outrage squeaked from Nivens. “No, of course we did notaskfor the book. It was freely given. I’m offended by your insinuation, Dr. LeBeau, and if you want to remain in my good graces, I suggest you retract that remark.”

Jaxon growled.

“That will be all Dr. LeBeau.” He hung up, not waiting for a reply.

I moved back closer to the office door to hear what happened next.

“Are you satisfied now, Jaxon?” I hated his smug tone.

Jaxon must have given an affirmative, because Nivens, the greedy little prick continued.

“Now I want the contract dictating the rights to the book revert solely to me. I’ve upheld my end of our arrangement. Now you need to uphold yours.”

“Nivens, if I hear one word suggesting you went back on our agreement, I’ll show our video to anyone interested in knowing you are susceptible to bribes. Right, Jess.” Jaxon said, his tone hard like stone.

Nivens sputtered in rage.

Had Jess been videoing the whole thing? Go, Jess!And that was my cue to join the conversation.

“You’re not giving up your book.” I strode into the room and stood before Jaxon, taking the papers from his hand and ripping them up.

Nivens’s face turned a dark purple red at my action.

Jaxon stared at me. The shock almost had him drop the book that he held in his other hand. “Lily?”

“We had a deal, Dr. LeBeau. If I don’t get this book. You don’t have a place in the program and your father is finished here.”