Page 18 of Weekends with You

“If we leave in the next ten minutes, we’ll make it to Aldgate East in time to catch the start of the tour. All we need are a couple flasks for the road, huh?” Henry was standing in the foyer looking at his watch.

“One step ahead of you,” Finn called from the kitchen. After the soccer game, we’d spent a few hours napping or reading or sitting around doing nothing at all until it was time to leave for the Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was good I’d had time to clear my head, but I had a feeling I would be dizzy again soon enough.

The biting chill in the late-October air crept through my leather jacket and into my bones, adding to the already ominous night. Was London always this windy? Or this dark? We huddled together for warmth and comfort, but mostly to discreetly pass the flask between us.

Starting the tour was like stepping into a time machine. We were only 30 minutes from the flat, but we might as well have traveled back over a hundred years. Our guide was also leading several other groups of mostly older tourists, and we fell into pairs at the back as we squeezed down tight alleys. I had to force myself to focus on the tour instead of whereHenry was standing, but it was proving more difficult than I had hoped.

Cool, damp air clung to the sides of historic buildings and dripped from stone overhangs. Under the soft light of the streetlamps, the dripping gave the illusion that something was moving just out of view. I linked my arm through Liv’s and nicked the flask from Jan’s back pocket.

“I need a little liquid courage,” I whispered when Jan shot me a look.

“Scared, are ya?” he taunted me, wearing that crooked smile.

“Duh,” Liv answered for me. “This is so creepy. I mean, the man who might have been Jack the Ripper literally cut hair in the basement of this building.” She took the flask from me and took a swig herself.

Jan shook his head at the pair of us. “At this rate, you two are going to be smashed by the time we even get to the end of the tour.”

“That’s the plan,” Liv said.

The shutter of Henry’s camera was the only sound breaking the silence as we peered into the windows of the building. It looked like a film set, but I couldn’t decide if that made it more or less horrifying.

Just as I was certain I’d seen a shadow move inside, someone shook my shoulders hard from behind. I let out an embarrassing, high-pitched scream, startling the rest of the group for less than a second before they dissolved into hysterical laughter.

I turned around so hard I nearly gave myself whiplash, only to see Henry starting a slow clap, trying his best not to laugh as hard as the rest of them.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” I swatted his arm, trying to play into the flirting despite my heart making a home in my throat.

“I didn’t think you were going to get that scared,” he said, giving in to the laughter. “Really, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” He bit his lip to gain his composure, and my heart rate rose again. I grabbed the flask back from Liv, hoping to steady my nerves.

“You know, when I asked about my new flatmates, no one told me you were an asshole,” I teased.

“Whatdidthey tell you?” We might have still been joking, but his question was charged.

I thought for a minute but came up empty. “They didn’t tell me much, if I’m honest. So you’re kind of a mystery.”

“Good,” he said. “They would probably make me look bad, anyway.”

“Is there something you want me to know that would make you look good?”

“What fun would it be if I just told you?” he said. I rolled my eyes, and he snatched the flask from my hand and brought it to his lips, drawing my attention there for the second time tonight.

He disappeared into a conversation with Cal, and Raja materialized by my side at the back of the group as we meandered to our next destination. The tour guide was saying something about a former convent, but I was too distracted to care.

“Well?” she asked, glancing in Henry’s direction. She was relentless, and I was a terrible liar.

“You already know the answer,” I whispered. “Besides, I thought we decided we’d table this until tomorrow?”

“I’m impatient. And it’s not a secret. Like, there’s definitely something going on.” I shoved her and she nearly crashed into a tourist, sending us both into a fit of distracted laughter.

We continued winding around the city in the dark, dutifully following the guide, andoohing andahhing when we weresupposed to. We were also getting pretty drunk in the process, but I think we were alone on that front.

“Jack the Ripper was a real wanker, wasn’t he?” Jan slurred, gesturing to a doorway where the only clue to the Ripper’s identity was said to have been discovered.

“I don’t even think ‘wanker’ begins to cover it,” Henry said.

“Why couldn’t the police just catch this arsehole?” Margot said, running her thin fingers over the doorframe.

“Have you been listening at all? I’d like to see you find an elusive serial killer without forensic science equipment or technology,” Jan said.

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