Cruel Shame (Knights of Templar Academy #3) - Sofia Daniel Page 0,19

shadows over his chiseled cheekbones, strong jaw and perfectly straight nose. Unlike Maxwell, who wore his hair in a messy, just-been-fucked style, Kendrick wore his slicked back, which emphasized his permanently furrowed brow. The guy really needed to relax.

We crossed a vast concourse of white floors, glass ceilings, and elegant, brown storefronts. Which version of him would I get for the journey? The scowling mute, the hero who knocked Elizabeth out with a punch, or the dickhead?

“What?” he stared down at me and scowled.

“Thank you for escorting me to London,” I murmured.

Kendrick pulled back his shoulders. “Maxwell is standing in for me, so I suppose it’s worth the sacrifice.”

My shoulders sagged. So I would be getting the dickhead.

Chapter Ten

We stepped into a suite of red carpets, mahogany-paneled walls, and tartan-green furnishings. A double bed took up its entire left side, with windows running down its right. At the foot of the bed were a pair of armchairs arranged around a table that doubled up as a desk, and opposite that, a stool, either for dressing or using as a desk chair.

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