ATasteofLondon Read Online Free

the phone still in his hand. He pressed a few buttons to save the number
under “Rose”, then compiled a text message to her and hit Send .
    I’m Ryan, by the way. Hope to see you later x
    He stuck with a single kiss, wanting to seem interested but
not over-keen. Seconds later, he heard the beeping of a phone in the distance,
amplified by the acoustics of the building.
    He grinned. It obviously had been the right number, then. He
just hoped she’d be able to get away later—despite the spectacular head he’d
received, his appetite wasn’t quite sated and she was the one to do it.

Chapter Three
     
    Ryan had just put the phone down on Kristian when the text
came through. It was from Rose, inviting him to a gig at a pub in the area
later that evening. She didn’t tell him the name of the band or the type of
music they played, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to see her again, so he’d go
even if it was a Steps tribute band. He doubted it would be, though. He knew
the pub and it wasn’t exactly a cheesy pop place. With any luck, though, he
wouldn’t be paying much attention to the band anyway.
    He thumbed a reply, then lay back onto his bed. The dorm
room was empty, which was why he’d gone in there to talk to his friend. The
last thing he needed was an audience if he was going to receive bad news.
Thankfully it was quite the opposite. They had indeed gotten Dave to hospital
in really good time, so he was going to be just fine. Naturally he’d have to
rest up and take it easy for a while, but there was no further danger. Kristian
couldn’t sort out any transport to get him back to London in time for their
Eurostar journey, but he was catching a later train, so he’d be in Paris a few
hours after Ryan was.
    Although he’d made a halfhearted offer to postpone his trip
so he could catch the same train as Kristian, Ryan was glad his friend had
refused to let him. One, because he had a ticket that couldn’t be amended, so
he’d lose the money, and two, because it meant he’d be able to visit the
Louvre. Kristian wasn’t interested in visiting the world-famous art museum, so
it was the perfect excuse for Ryan to go without feeling guilty about leaving
his friend alone in a strange city while he went, or dragging him around and
boring him out of his mind.
    Ryan grinned. Things were definitely looking up. Just this
morning he’d thought the trip was going to be cancelled. Now he had a date with
a hot girl, Dave was going to be just fine, Kristian was going to be on his way
back to the capital tomorrow, and he had a visit to one of his favorite museums
in his near future.
    He glanced at his watch and his smile widened. Because he’d
been woken so early that morning, it felt much later than it was, but in fact
he had a few hours to kill before he had to get ready to go out and meet Rose
at the pub.
    After a few minutes tapping at his phone, Ryan had a plan.
He’d head across the river and visit the Monument. In spite of his many
previous trips to London, he’d never climbed the three hundred and eleven steps
of the great stone column that had been built to commemorate the Great Fire of
London in 1666 or visited the nearby Pudding Lane where the fire had started.
    He rolled off his bed and left the dorm room. Grabbing his
camera from his locker, he headed outside. Turning right up Borough High Street,
Ryan followed the road until he was across the river, then dropped down to the
lower street level and made his way along Lower Thames Street until he reached
the corner of Fish Street Hill. He could see it now, towering above the
surrounding buildings, and he headed up the hill, across the square and through
the open door at the bottom of the column.
    He waited patiently as a girl in front of him rooted around
in her bag, seemingly struggling to find her purse. It was hardly surprising,
Ryan noted, given the size of the bag. He suspected it contained the proverbial
kitchen sink and many more things besides. Though