Free TENDER DECEIT (Romantic Suspense Mystery Novel): First Love Series ~ Book 1 by H.Y. Hanna

Ong had to stay behind with Sarah because she suddenly felt sick and—”
    “Why didn’t you and Mr James jump out when you saw that they were delayed?”
    “I… I… well, I…” Leah faltered. She had no answer to that. Everything had happened so fast, and besides, she had to admit that a tiny part of her had hoped that the doors would close and she and Toran would be alone together.
    “You know such behaviour is unacceptable at the school. We pride ourselves on a pure, uncorrupted environment and our students are expected to follow chaste standards of behaviour. I regret to say this, but any student caught breaking these rules can be expelled.”
    The room filled with loud voices as Toran’s parents and Leah’s father sprang up, arguing and protesting. Leah stood trembling, afraid to look at Toran. Then she heard Toran’s quiet voice cut through the din.
    “It was my fault.”
    Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. Toran straightened his shoulders. “Leah didn’t break any rules. I was the one—I got her into the cable car alone and I… I forced myself on her.”
    Leah gasped. “No! Toran, what are you saying?”
    “It’s true.” He avoided her eyes and turned to the principal. “If you speak to Eric, I’m sure he’ll confirm my story. I wanted to—uh—I manipulated it so that we would be in the last cable car together. Leah tried to get out when she saw Miss Ong was delayed, but I grabbed her arm and wouldn’t let her. She was forced to ride alone with me. Then I saw my chance and I tried to kiss her and do… other stuff. She didn’t want to, though. It was just me.”
    He’s protecting me! Leah thought wildly, staring at the boy standing next to her. He’s going to take all the blame so that I don’t get expelled! The thought of Toran leaving school filled her with despair. She cried out, violently contradicting him, but she had never seen such a force of will in Toran’s eyes. No matter how she protested, he stuck unwaveringly to his story.
    In the end, the principal accepted his version of events, but in view of Toran’s past exemplary record, he changed the punishment to a suspension. They were dismissed and Leah was chilled by the way her father eyed Toran and his parents as they walked away. She returned to school the following Monday to find that Toran had been suspended for a week and the penalty points put onto his grades meant that his ranking had plummeted. Leah saw Eric smirking as he looked at the rankings table and she could hardly contain the ball of white, hot anger in her chest.
    What worried her more, though, was the way Toran avoided her when he returned. Something had changed. She tried to catch his eye, to find a chance to talk to him, but he kept his distance. Weeks passed, then months, and the chill between them turned to frost. Leah thought of the things he had said to her in the cable car and she couldn’t believe how everything could have changed so suddenly.
    But as their year in Seventh Grade drew to a close, Leah held on to a slim hope. There were times when she had looked up suddenly to find Toran’s eyes on her from across the classroom. He had immediately looked away, but she knew she hadn’t been mistaken. And when she returned from the summer holidays to find that Toran was in her new class in Eighth Grade, her heart lifted. She was determined they would start again, have another chance…
     
    ***
     
    Leah forced her mind back up to the present, pushing the memories away with an effort. She wasn’t some naïve, starry-eyed, thirteen-year-old girl anymore, she told herself sharply, and—she glanced at the man beside her—this wasn’t some boy she had shared secret glances with at school. Toran James was something much more dangerous now. To your safety or your heart ? a voice inside her taunted, but Leah ignored it.
    She took a deep breath and followed Toran towards the carousel of revolving cable cars, where people were climbing on board. This