Dukes of Madness (Royals of Forsyth University, #5)

by Angel Lawson

Watching Sy make an attempt at compassion is like watching a bear use a pair of tweezers.

“It’s not like that, Vinny.” Gently, he places my hand into my lap, resuming the brush’s strokes through my hair. “It’s the violet. I like the way it looks, not the way it hurts.”

Lavinia Lucia was the love of my goddamn life, and I would have done anything for her.

bring her back from the brink of death and all she cares about is that stupid cat.” A door slams, and another opens. “Where are you, you fucking—there you are. Stay still.” Rustling and cursing follows. “Come here, you little shit!” he says. “Don’t you fucking hiss at me!”

Except this morning, when I wake up to find her tucked up against my side. She must have rolled over and curled against me at some point. There’s a long stretch of time where I just lie there, flat on my back, cataloging the warmth of her skin against mine. Cool hands, hot feet, warm breaths. The realization doesn’t hit me so much as it just… arrives. I’ve been waiting for this. No. I’ve been hoping for this.

“That day she talked me off the ledge—right over there, actually—she took care of me. She talked to me, patched me up, let me use her skin, and there wasn’t any… expectation. Like she didn’t need me to be better or fixed. She just needed me to be the best I could, and that was enough.”

“Plus, she’s got my ink now, and that makes her mine. Oldest dibs known to mankind.”

and stumbles, reaching for his ankle as he

“The message has been sent. Dukes follow their King. Or else.”

“So fucking tell me what the problem is for once instead of making it worse.”

“I kind of think the harder you want her, the more she’s going to turn away. And I don’t think she can help it. You’re like the person-version of that box her dad had her in. You suffocate her, man.”

“Remy kisses me like he’s a goddamn soldier going off to war.”

I only let my touch linger for a second, thinking that being shot wouldn’t be so terrible if she were the one pulling the trigger. Hatred is better than nothing.

“Know what I think is funny?” I ask, offering a cutting smile. “The fact that men fail at fatherhood on such a statistically massive scale that there’s an actual term for it, but somehow it’s used to insult women.”

I don’t think he realizes how impossible it is to live with a book I can’t read.

Keep it simple, stupid’. K-I-S-S.”

When it comes to Remy, my body is in capable hands.

If this house falls apart, then I have nothing left: no home, no friends, no protection, and as much as it hurts to admit it, no family.

Remy, seriously? You think you’re the only one allowed to have trust issues? She grew up with a father whose mental manipulations rival Thanos, and he’s a goddamn supervillain.

Show your sinister sister what happens when she lets another man’s hands wander into her wicked garden.”

I don’t know how to be loved.

“Get on the table,” I demand, knowing my tone is too curt. This isn’t anger. It’s passion. Inspiration. An artist needs his muse.

We don’t do things by halves. We fuck like we fight, and we love like we die.

“Do you think a cock weighs more when it’s hard, or is it the same amount when it’s soft?”

If I’m going to be anyone’s weapon, then I’m going to be hers.

I fucking knew she had daddy issues.

Being starved of your ability to leave a mark on the world fostered a strong compulsion to deface anything in sight.

Nick licks my pussy like he’s wielding a gun: my clit the trigger, his tongue the bullet, my eyes the pleading victim. And his marksmanship is impeccable.

It’s a good thing I’m willing to worship her because watching her come undone on my dick is a fucking religious experience.

I’m not a little girl trapped in a box anymore. I’m the Duchess, and I only have one priority: my Dukes.