Checkmate's Honeymoon from Hell

Connor pursed his lips up in thought as he sat on the edge of bed next to her, somehow managing to take one of her hands in his so that he could lazily run his thumb over the back of her hand. “Nobody told you to kidnap me,” Connor pointed out with a slight shrug as he continued to caress her hand, not really seeming to care that there were nine large men in the room who looked more than ready to tear him apart with their bare hands.

Which of course brought up an interesting question…

“What exactly happened?” she asked, wrapping her hand around his and did her best to pretend that she wasn’t blushing like a schoolgirl just from touching him.

“Tradition,” Craig bit out between clenched teeth as he stood there, seething along with the rest of the men in the room.

“Okay…” she mumbled slowly, not even trying to hide her confusion as she glanced around the room to take in the angry and slightly embarrassed expressions on her brothers and cousins’ faces. “Then why exactly are you here?” she asked, wracking her head to try and remember a time when the men in her family had forced the newest member of the family to go through the “Welcoming,” twice.

Normally once they welcomed the newest man into the fold and the rules were thoroughly explained, they usually just left him alone unless he forgot to follow one of the family rules. Either the guy raised his voice to his wife, stepped out on her, fucked up as a father, etc. and the men in her family would step in and handle it. If there was one thing that the men in her family made sure of, it was that everyone, young and old, was taken care of and if you were given the privilege of being allowed to care for one of them, you were expected to do your job and do it well.

Then again, this was Connor they were talking about here so…

“What did you do?” she asked, closing her eyes in resignation as she waited to hear what her husband did, because as badly as she wanted to believe that it was her brothers and cousins that had done something seriously fucked up, she knew her husband too well to even consider any other possibilities.

His warm chuckle only confirmed her suspicions.

“I took the golden opportunity to get to know my in-laws a little better,” he said, sounding amused as he shot her a wink over his shoulder, which earned outraged gasps from the big babies still glaring at him.

“He went too far!”

“I felt dirty!” Johnny cried, wrapping his large arms around himself as he backed up against the wall and shuddered at whatever memory was running through his head at the moment. “Dirty. So, dirty,” he mumbled to himself, staring down at the floor as another shudder tore through him.