Page 22 of Cruel Shame

It was a little smaller than the one I’d once shared with Maxwell, but with the thick drapes obscuring the station and the warm air circulating through the wall vents, it looked comfortable and cozy.

“This is nice,” I placed my bag on the stool and sank onto the edge of a soft mattress.

Kendrick stood in the doorway, surveying the suite. The tight expression across his lips told me he was either dreading being stuck here with me for an entire night or was calculating a way to avoid spending time with me while fulfilling his obligation to Maxwell.

Sagging onto the mattress, I exhaled a weary breath. I thought we had moved from him disliking me? What happened to the Kendrick who saved me from Elizabeth’s psycho attack and the Kendrick who agreed to accompany us to our dirty weekend? Maybe he had heard how Maxwell and I had passed the time during our last train journey and thought I might demand the same from him.

I dropped my gaze to my lap. If I told him I wasn’t expecting stud service, he’d scoff and say something cutting. Right now, I couldn’t cope with an argumentative Kendrick.

Finally, he stepped inside, closed the door, and lowered himself into the armchair. “This is where I’ll sleep.”

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. “There’s plenty of space for two here.”

His gaze slid to the bed and fixed on the hand I’d placed on the mattress. “Very well,” he said with a sniff. “But you will keep your hands to yourself.”

My brows rose. That had been surprisingly easy. I thought Kendrick would posture and huff and bluster a little more before agreeing to sleep at my side. He still wasn’t meeting my eyes, instead, holding his features haughty and his head high.

Pressing my lips together to hide a smile, I said, “It will be a struggle, but I’ll try to control myself.”

His posture relaxed, and I chewed on my lip. Was that relief? Sometimes, I didn’t know what to make of Kendrick.

My phone buzzed. It was a message from Felicity, one of the girls who had been expelled for lewd conduct.

I wasn’t going to reply to your first email. It took a while to get over that business with Elizabeth, and I didn’t want to dredge up old hurts. It’s one thing to get rid of a rival who can start again in a different school, but she’s gone too far with the headmaster. What do you need from me?

The train trundled out of the station and picked up speed. I rose from the mattress, pulled the stool to the table, and placed my phone on its surface. “Look.”

Kendrick read the message and sighed. “How could we have been so stupid?”

I held my silence and waited for him to elaborate. Even though Maxwell had groveled and proven that he had regretted his actions, and Orlando claimed not to have known about the police raid, I still didn’t understand why a straight-laced guy like Kendrick would agree to associate with someone who did such shitty things to others.

He shook his head. “We were so focused on pleasing Elizabeth that we never considered the effects our actions would have on those other girls.”

“You know she probably fell out with those girls because they refused her advances.”

“It seems so obvious now,” he muttered under his breath. “All this time, I thought she was the paragon of purity, but she just wanted the girls for herself.”

For the rest of the evening, Kendrick was surprisingly attentive for a guy who claimed that watching over me would be a sacrifice. He ordered me a red lentil soup with a ham and cheese sandwich, and reminded me to take my tablets.

His calming presence was exactly what I needed while feeling so delicate. Instead of fussing over me like Orlando and Maxwell might have done under these circumstances, he gave me space to process the day but always seemed to know if I needed more water, a cup of tea, or even a charger for my smartphone.

Kendrick reminded me so much of Gideon, who also had a cool, quiet exterior. I wondered if like Gideon, it hid a depth of loyalty and warmth.

As the evening wore on, the warm air swirled around the room, making my eyes grow heavy. I placed a hand to my mouth and yawned.

“Nine-forty-five.” Kendrick stood and walked over to my armchair.

“Huh?” I gazed up into his gray eyes, remembering the Kendrick I had befriended earlier in the year. That version of him had been just as nice and as kind as him.

The corner of Kendrick’s mouth curled into a smile. “If you go to bed now, you’ll get seven hours of sleep before breakfast.”

“Right.” I toed off my shoes and unbuttoned my jeans.

Kendrick rocked forward, his eyes bulging. “What are you doing?”

“Getting into bed.” I raised my hips, pulled my jeans down my legs, and eased them off my ankles.

He turned around, breathing hard. “You were supposed to use the bathroom.”