Collared (Going to the Dogs) by Zoe Dawson Page B

outside while she talked to Aiden.
    Her brother was there, which, as far as Harper was concerned, was at least something.
    When she entered, sliding the big metal door open and closed behind her, he was sitting at a long table, dressed in a white tank top and a pair of old, beat-up jeans.
    He looked up and smiled. He was unshaven, but the blonde stubble only really showed when it caught the sun and all the highlights of red and gold flashed. And his hair was getting so long he wore it in a short ponytail at the back of his neck.
    She was well aware how handsome he was. But to her he was simply her baby brother.
    Cleatis, Aiden’s Doberman jumped up from the floor and trotted over to her. He’d deliberately picked the dog out to offset her prissy poodle. Blue might be prissy, but she had class.
    “Hi there, pretty boy. Aren’t you handsome today?” She petted the Doberman’s sleek head and he pushed his nose into her hand and licked her.
    “Don’t encourage him. Faith spoils him rotten.”
    Faith was Aiden’s manager. Personal manager, dog walker, all around girl Friday. “Where is your trusty sidekick?”
    “She’s out getting coffee, so I’m glad you’re here. You can hold this while I finish up.”
    “You don’t pay that girl enough.”
    He snorted. “I pay her plenty and she’s happy.”
    “You know she takes care of her Nana, right?”
    “Nana?” he said with a clueless look on his face. His lips thinned and he looked down at the bundle of cloth on the table. “No, I didn’t know that.”
    She gave him an incredulous look. “You exasperate me. How long has she worked for you?”
    “A long time.”
    “Do you even know her favorite color or flower?”
    “She’s my employee, Harper. I try to keep that separate,” he growled, and she decided not to piss him off before she broached the subject that was going to set him off anyway.
    “Here.” He set a ring in her hand and she clasped it. “You can sit down there.” He pulled it taut. “Okay, pull against my pressure until I tell you to stop.”
    He started knotting a huge piece of silk that was saturated with a glowing mix of myriad blues.
    “This is beautiful.” Aiden had taken up fiber art, and some of his pieces had sold for quite a huge sum. His opening had been in July, around the time that Poe and Jared met while Poe was having trouble with those threatening letters. The piece Aiden was producing today looked like it was going to be a tall as she was. He had copper pipes and other metals to the side of the table which she guessed he was going to incorporate into the piece.
    “Faith painted it.”
    Harper just shook her head. Didn’t her brother appreciate anything?
    “You didn’t come here to talk about my beautiful silks, Harper.”
    “You don’t have to be so surly, Aiden.”
    “I don’t like to be pushed,” he growled, giving her a knowing look. Well, no one ever accused Aiden of being completely oblivious.
    “I know, but Dad is worried and upset. How can you keep avoiding him?”
    His expression went mutinous and guilty at the same time. “I know what he wants. I don’t think I can give it to him.”
    “Then tell him, Aiden. Put it to rest. Dad would never force you.”
    He stopped knotting the silk and clenched his fists. “Don’t you think I know that?”
    There was an unnatural tension in every line of his body. When he looked up at her, his eyes were so tormented that she knew, with a startling clarity, that he was struggling with something that went down to his soul, and was eating him alive.
    “It doesn’t make it any easier. I need…I need to think about things, but everything gets jumbled up inside me. I feel lost and crazy most of time. I just can’t face any type of decision right now.”
    A sound drew his attention, and he turned to see Faith standing at the side door, her hands holding a drink carrier with three coffees in it.
    For a moment they stared at each other, and Harper saw the sympathy on