Page 89 of Claiming Pretty

He smirked, the kind of infuriating expression that only stoked my rage. With no effort at all, he grabbed me again, throwing me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

I slammed my fists into his back, over and over, but he didn’t so much as flinch.

The world tilted as he carried me, the sound of gravel crunching giving way to the distinctclickof his heels on polished marble, the blurred lines of ornate flooring passing under me.

I frowned. This flooring looked familiar. Where had he taken me?

Finally, he stopped, setting me down on my feet.

My legs wobbled beneath me, but before I could gather my balance, he spun me and pushed me back over something solid—angled.

The realization hit just as his hands worked quickly, efficiently. He hooked my bound wrists over something high above my head, forcing me to stretch out.

Rage and confusion warred within me, but beneath it all, an unwelcome heat began to build. My nipples tightened traitorously, sensitive peaks straining against the air as this position forced my back to arch, thrusting my breasts forward. I hated my body’s response, hated how it betrayed me even as my mind reeled.

Ty stepped back, tilting his head like he was admiring his handiwork.

“What the fuck?” I tried to shout, but the gag muffled my words, reducing them to furious noise.

My breath hitched as my eyes darted around the room.

I knew this place.

The space was vast, almost cathedral-like, a few scattered wall sconces giving off a dim light. Overhead, the massive domed ceiling loomed, its metal beams curving into shadowed heights, the arched windows letting in fractured shards of moonlight across the walls.

Bookshelves lined the walls, crammed with ancient tomes and celestial charts, while the air was thick with the smell of aged paper, brass, and faint hints of dust. And a spiral staircase wound up to a shadowy platform above, disappearing into the darkness.

I was in the old Darkmoor observatory.

And I lay stretched out and naked on the monstrous telescope in the center.

I pulled at the bindings. But Ty had wrapped enough tape around them so that I couldn’t tear them off.

Ty’s eyes raked over my exposed body. His gaze wasn’t cold like it usually was. It was wild and tormented with a touch of madness.

His glare burned into my skin, contrasting with the cold metal of the telescope pressed against my back.

“You only have yourself to blame for this, Ava,” he said, his voice bitter and hateful.

He kneeled and sliced through the tape binding my ankles in one swift motion.

The moment I felt the tape fall away, I lashed out. My leg snapped up, aiming for his face, but Ty was faster. He caught my ankle mid-kick, his grip like iron. A low chuckle rumbled from his chest, the sound sending an unwelcome shiver down my spine.

“Nice try,” he said, his hand like an iron band around my leg. “But I know all your moves.Itaught them to you.”

He yanked my leg to the side, stretching it out painfully wide.

I tried to twist away, but he held firm, cuffing my ankle out on the telescope mount. Panic surged through me anew.

Fuck. He’d set up handcuffs here already. He’d planned this. Of course, he planned it. It was Ty.

What else did he have planned?

I thrashed wildly, my free leg kicking out, but Ty grabbed that too and secured it to the other side, forcing my legs open wide so that I was fully exposed to him.

“Ty, goddammit…” I yelled around the panties stuffed into my mouth, trying to work my lips to get the tape off. “Let me go right now, asshole.”

Ty stepped right up against me. “Bad girls don’t get to make demands,” he growled into my face. “Bad girls get punished.”

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