Page 3 of Taming Grumpy Dr. Beast

I wanted to throttle this guy.

I slammed my finger on the button, jabbing at it furiously, wanting to crow with relief when it stopped. Why the hell wasn’t there a better safety on this thing? My relief was short-lived as a loud screech filled the room.

What the hell was that dreadful noise?

If I’d had room to maneuver my body, I’d have covered my ears to block it out. My breath grew choppy as I struggled to draw in a lung full of air.

“Get your damn finger off the button,” his hardened voice instructed me.

A white-hot burst of anger flared, and the urge to defy him rocketed through me. I gave the button a few more taps. Partially as an F-U to him, but mostly because I really needed this wall of books to move.

“Get your finger off your side first, you idiot. Are you trying to crush me?” I asked.

A low, feral grumbling reverberated through the room, and I shuddered. It sounded like a wild beast ready to make a kill. “I’m not pressing it.”

“Wait. What?” My eyes widened as I stared at the frozen wall of books in front of me. He had to be kidding. Panic at being trapped rose up in me, my heart pounding and my mouth going dry. The books around me started to spin as I realized I was most definitely going to miss Dad’s appointment. All because I had to have that damn book. “I have somewhere to be. I can’t be stuck!”

“If you’d just listened and gotten out of my way, we wouldn’t have this problem,” he said.

“What we?Last I checked, you could just walk out of here whenever you wanted. Unlike me.”

A buzz sounded from the other side of the stacks. I could hear his audible and theatrical sigh. “Great. I’m going to be late.”

Mission Impossiblefilled the room again as my phone made me regret not silencing the damn thing. I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm the swirl of anger filling my belly. This asshole had, without a doubt, made me late.

I heard footsteps moving away from me. Where was he going?

“Are you leaving?” I hated the shrill sound that spilled from my mouth.

The steps paused. “You’ll be fine. I can’t be late for this meeting.”

“What the fuck, dude? You’re the reason I’m stuck.” My muscles tensed and I gritted my teeth. To calm myself I tried tapping my toe, anything to let go of this anger swirling inside of me, but had to stop when the books behind me scratched against my ankle.

“To be fair, you contributed to this mess.” He didn’t sound the least bit sorry. But then he sighed. “I can’t get you out. I’ll stop upstairs and let the librarian know you’re stuck.”

“No, I don’t have time for this. You need to get me out of here. Now!” A small part of me held on to this ridiculous shred of hope that if we could get this set of shelves to move right now, I might make Dad’s appointment.

“I would, but I don’t know how. I’ll send someone.”

“Oh, my God. What if they forget I’m even down here?” My heart sank at the thought of missing Dad’s neurologist appointment, it stopped all together when I realized the home health aide’s shift was about over. Dad would be home all by himself.

He sighed. “I won’t let that happen.”

I curled my hands into fists, trying to hold back from slamming my palm against the books in front of me. It wasn’t their fault this guy was the absolute worst. “I have no reason to believe you.”

“Give me your number.”

“Um, my number? I don’t know you. Why would I do that?”

He sighed again, the loud sound insinuating he was trying to hold on to some bit of patience.

“I’ll call you after I talk to the librarian as a confirmation I didn’t forget about you.”

I cleared my throat, hesitating. I didn’t know this creep. Did I really want to give him my number?

“Forget it. I don’t have time to wait for you to give me an answer.” His heavy tread started up again.

“Wait!” I gulped in a breath and recited my number. Hearing from him would help ease some of the panic and fear coursing through me at the thought of being stuck down here alone.