Alternate Ending

A writer loves to type the words "The End." I wrote the Epilogue of Bearly Tackled and went to bed one night. The next morning when I got up and hadn't even had my first cup of coffee, my gut told me that I'd written the final part of the book in the wrong point of view.

There are familiar parts that I kept when I switched the Epilogue into Cassidy's POV. But you get a glimpse into Parker's head and what he feels at the very end.

Writing this book has made me fall in love with the Berenger family even more. I can't wait to give the rest of the brothers and a couple of their cousins their own stories! Enjoy!

Parker

“I swear, the pain will dull after a bit. Some people find it actually stimulating. Pleasurable, even.”

“Do you have to prick me with something that big?” Parker cringed.

“Stop being a pussy.” Jon “Sillyman” cranked on the tattoo machine. “When she got her tat, you didn’t hear her being a gigantic scared squawking chicken.” He nodded his head at Cassidy with pride.

Silly had a point. Cass fell under the category of those who liked being under the needle, although her small tat of his UW and now Seattle Seahawks number paled in comparison to the size of his custom drawn piece of art.

She sat in a nearby chair, wearing her free Space Needles Tattoo Parlor t-shirt and grinning at him with her eyes beaming from behind her glasses. “Just occupy your mind with something else, and it will be over before you know it.”

“What did you think about?” Pictures of her perfectly naked, spread out underneath him with her mouth open in that cute little bow that meant she was about to come, flashed through his mind.

She raised her eyebrow at him. “Along those same lines. I was thinking about the night after you won the bowl game.”

He grinned at her. “Me, too.” The needles cut into his skin and he winced.

Without looking up, Silly dipped the needles into the ink and shook his head. “Hey, no hanky panky in my shop.”

“Oh geez, you’ve been hanging around Flora too much.” Cassidy giggled.

Parker looked back and forth between the two of them. “He knows Flora?”

Cassidy shot him that hot sexy teacher type of look behind her glasses. “Who do you think recommended him as the best tattoo artist in the city?”

Parker’s jaw dropped. “Flora has tattoos.”

Silly nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

Parker bit his tongue to hold back another cringe. “Where are they?” He tried to picture where the woman who was now a major part of their family hid her skin art. Since he couldn’t remember any ink on the visible areas, he stopped himself.

“Confidentiality, dude.” Silly wiped excess ink off, and the tattoo machine vibrated to life again.

Cassidy offered Parker a sip of her water. “I think it’s sweet that she’s letting Vaughn move in with her for a while. Without me and Connor there full-time, she might have gotten lonely.”

He watched her lips form a small pout. “I know it will take some getting used to not having her around all the time.”

Her eyes flashed to his, and her shoulders relaxed. “I know. A lot is changing all at once.”

“Yep. We’re both graduating in a couple of weeks, I got my contract to stay here in Seattle, and we’re bribing my entire family to help move us in to our new place together with lasagna.”

She licked her lips. “Oh man, your mom’s lasagna is epic.”

“Maddox’s is a pretty damn close second.”

Cassidy furrowed her brow. “Yeah, but she better not touch even the lightest box in her condition.”

When Griff and Maddox had broken the news that they were pregnant again and that everything was going well, the puzzle of Parker’s life came together, complete except a couple of pieces. 

A dark cloud hung over him when he thought of how much his closest brother had retreated since he and Cassidy announced their engagement. “I hope Vaughn gets out of his funk and shows up to help us.”

“Another good reason for him to be staying with Flora. She can keep an eye on him as well as keep him in line.”

Cassidy was right again. Her former landlord and Vaughn had formed an unlikely friendship based on sarcasm and the ability to not give a flying flip about telling each other the truth. Still, once his life got back to some semblance of normal after their wedding, Parker intended to enlist his other brothers’ help to find out what was at the core of Vaughn’s eternal bad mood and withdrawal again.

Silly worked on his skin until the constant pain dulled to a hum. Parker didn’t think he’d be coming back for more tattoos, but he didn’t mind it anymore. With a final swipe, the artist checked out his work one more time with a close eye before leaning back. “You’re all done.”

Parker stood up and walked over to the full length mirror. He looked at the ink on his right shoulder, about at the same spot as Cassidy’s scars. Silly had freehanded and replicated the picture that Cassidy had taken of her bite mark the night after his bowl win. With his incredible skills, the mark looked so real that he ran his finger over it to see if he could feel the indent left from her teeth.

“No playing with it,” Silly informed him. He slathered some clear gel over it. “You’ll want to put some of this on every few hours to keep it from drying out for about two weeks as it heals.”

“What do you think, hon.” Parker turned to Cassidy and waited for her inspection.

Her fingers hovered over the tattoo as if she fought the urge to touch it, too. “Wow. It’s just so…”

“Permanent. This mark? It’s not going anywhere.” He embraced her, careful to keep her away from the inked area.

“Neither is mine.” She lifted her shirt and lowered her pants enough to see the elastic wrap and tape covering her own ink.

Silly wrapped his shoulder and gave him the same instructions he gave Cassidy. Once they paid, the two stepped out into the cool evening, the rare sun orange and low in the sky.

Unable to keep his hands off her, he hugged her to his chest. “You really like it?”

With care, she laid her left hand on top of it. The diamond of her engagement ring flashed in the last light of the day. “I do. But don’t think that because the mark will last I’m going to stop biting you.”

His hands dropped down to cup her cheeks, and she automatically jumped up into his arms. He kissed her until she lost her words and breath. His mouth worked its way from hers down her jawline to her ear. Capturing her lobe between his teeth, a growl rolled in his throat. “God, you’re such an animal.”

“Right back atcha, mate.” Pressing her forehead against his, she did her best to snarl at him. Parker laughed so hard he almost dropped her. “Whoa there, Berenger. Don’t fumble me.”

He carried her to his truck and set her into her seat. When he climbed in his side, the sun flashed in between the buildings. “Let’s go get Connor and head over to Kerry Park. See if we can catch the sunset.”

“Sounds like my kind of perfect.” Cassidy reached out and placed her hand in his.

As they drove off down the street, warmth spread from his chest and ran through Parker’s veins. His bear rested inside, at peace and satisfied. He didn’t know what kind of defensive line life would throw in his way, but he knew he could survive anything with her and Connor on his team.