Unleashed (A Sydney Rye Novel, # 1) Read Free

then groaned.
    Sitting up, my entire body rebelled. “Jesus fucking Christ,” I muttered through sock-coated teeth. Groping the wall I struggled to stand. I could feel my brain floating on an ocean of tequila. Every movement sent it crashing into the walls of my skull.
    Gently, I moved down the hall to the bathroom. In the mirror I saw I was wearing the same clothing as the morning before. I struggled with my jeans while the bathtub filled. Steam fogged the room, and I sank under the hot water, listening to my heart resound in my head.
    My hair combed and my teeth brushed, I checked the fridge hoping for fresh milk for my coffee, knowing that I hadn’t bought any. I poured the coffee, scooped sugar in by the tablespoon, splashed in the milk (only one day late) and topped the whole thing off with a load of cinnamon.
    After my second cup of coffee, I knew what to do. “First thing I’m gonna do today,” I yelled to Blue from the bedroom as I got dressed, “is take you for a walk.” I squeezed into a pair of freshly washed jeans, struggling to button the button. I found a T-shirt in a mound of clothing I kept on a chair in the corner of my room, smelled it, and put it on. “Then I’m going to find a job.” I slipped on a flip-flop, glanced around for the other, got down on my knees and checked under the bed, found it and put that on, too. I walked back out to the hall where Blue waited. He smiled at me, clearly confident in me, and my plan.
    Blue’s whole body vibrated as I put the leash on him. We bounded down the stairs together and by the time we hit the street I was feeling pretty good. It was one of those gorgeous early-summer days when the temperature is just right, the sun is shining, and you get the distinct feeling that everything will be just fine.
    I strutted down the street, admiring the way my wet hair looked in the sun, its many shades of white and gold catching the light. Blue trotted next to me, sniffing the warm air. Park slope in the early-summer was designed for dog walking. We wandered past boutiques, their windows filled with beautiful clothing. Well-dressed, good looking people milled around the coffee shop. They all turned to look at us. Blue really did look like a creature from another land. His white and black fur glistening in the sunlight and his strangely beautiful eyes caught the attention of everyone we passed.
    On our way back to my place we passed a school. Children flooded into the playground laughing and yelling, heading home. I smiled as the kids began to surround us, when suddenly Blue lunged and snapped at a passing teacher. The man, plump and freckled, jumped back, tripped over a piece of uneven pavement, and fell to the ground, his eyes wide and wet with fear. Blue strained against the leash, desperate to finish him off. Blue’s lips curled up to expose massive, razor-sharp teeth that snapped at the air, trying to sink into any part of the poor guy.
    The children cowered and screamed for their mothers as my wolf dog strained to disembowel their instructor. Blue looked like a starved lunatic recently escaped from a mental hospital, spit whipping out of his mouth in long strings, his eyes rolling wildly in their sockets.
    I gripped the leash with both hands and yanked it with such strength that Blue’s body twisted backwards, lifting his front paws off the ground and landing them in the opposite direction. I used his momentary surprise to begin dragging him back toward the house. He didn’t stop snarling until the sound of children’s voices had dissipated.

 
     
    Nona
     
    As I was trying to find my keys, my next-door neighbor, Nona, opened her door. "I knew it," she said. “I knew you got a dog. Now, bring that little rapscallion over, and let’s have some tea.”
    I first met Nona through my grandmother, who lived in my apartment before she passed away. Nona was a retired dancer in her early seventies. She’d been married three times to three men who all died within the