Tusks

Chapter 19: If You'll Let Me

Pulling up in front of Grayson's house made Erin's nerves become even more frazzled. After speaking with Tayn he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do. Or, well, he was... but was that the correct decision and safest for Grayson? Definitely not. Children were the one thing he had always wanted, but with Gray, he couldn't risk that.

Erin's head fell forward as he groaned, only to smack the horn and make him jump. That, in turn, made his head smack against the low ceiling of his car.

Just my luck.

He rubbed the sore spot and slowly got out, figuring that they had heard him anyway. However, when no one came to the door he remembered that his mother had left earlier and her car was still gone.

Okay, so it's just Gray. That's good, at least.

When he didn't see the kid's little mouse peaking out from behind a curtain after a few moments Erin headed toward the backyard. The tree was fairly easy to climb and thankfully he'd left the window unlocked.

Time to be that awkward elephant in the room.

Just not literally, because he definitely didn't have the money to fix their house.

Once inside, Erin quietly shut the window, then turned toward the bathroom. It wasn't hard for his insanely good hearing to pick up what Gray was in the shower doing. His tongue slowly ran across his drying lips as he took a few deep breaths. If he screwed up now, he was going to lose any chance of having him. A little voice in the back of his head was continuously repeating that it would be better since Grayson couldn't have elephant calves, but he just couldn't leave him.

Once in front of the bathroom, Erin bit his bottom lip and yanked the door open, then shut it before he could stop himself. He was at least facing away from the shower since his nerves were already pretty much used up.

"Erin? What the heck are you doing here?"

Grayson's voice squeaked at the end of his sentence, making Erin's body tense in more ways than one.

My mouse.

After taking a very deep breath and letting it out through his nose, Erin slowly turned around and looked at the see-through shower curtain. Granted, he couldn't see much since the steam and water running down it blocked his vision, but he didn't need to. He had seen him naked before, and had quite enjoyed the view.

"I can help," he said quietly after a few silent moments.

"Get out!"

If he hadn't sounded like he was in pain, Erin would have obeyed immediately. But instead, he took a step forward and squared his shoulders.

"No, I know you're in heat."

"I know that. looked it up. You just want me because of the pheromones."

It was true that he did smell amazing, even with the collar blocking most of it, but perhaps that was just his amazing sense of smell since he didn't see many other students eyeing him in the halls.

"I can smell them even with that collar on."

"Of course you can. You're an elephant. Now go away."

"No."

Grayson let out a frustrated squeak and Erin saw his blurry figure behind the curtain slowly slide down the wall to the floor of the bathtub.

"Please, I can take care of myself."

Okay, time to say the right thing, Erin.

"I want to take care of you."

He took a step forward, then another when he didn't hear Gray protest. That left him standing right in front of the frosted curtain, his heart nearly beating right out of his chest.