Page 23 of A Very Addicted Christmas

CHRISTMAS EVE IS a clusterfuck.

I’m almost tapped out of patience. My last reserve is being depleted on one of my men who just tried to defend an undefendable situation. J.P. refused to admit that he made a glaring fuck-up that could’ve cost his client’s life.

Next time, Luna might not be this lucky, and Akara and I can’t trust that he’ll do his job and protect her. He’s not taking any ownership. Not apologizing.

He’s foaming at the fucking mouth and blaming Luna for sneaking out.

She left her house without anyone knowing, traded in her Kia for a used Jetta, and drove all alone to meet up with the tour bus.

J.P.’s words still ring in my ears.It’s not my fault that she’s not normal. She’s really weird. We don’t fucking mesh.

I only agreed with the last statement. The others were horseshit and made me happy to sign his fucking termination papers.

“Asshole,” Akara growls and glares at his cell. He just hung up on J.P. His patience also gone.

I’m buck-naked in the second lounge, where Akara and I talk privately. I toss my red jockstrap on a duffel bag and then step into a pair of sweatpants. I was fine with doing the Hot Santa Contest for team morale, but I didn’t sign up for Luna Hale to see me barely clothed.

She might be eighteen, but I’ve been around the Hale family for a long time and I’ve known her since she was much younger.

And she saw my bare ass tonight.

Unprofessional.

That’s on me. Shouldn’t have happened.

Akara keeps shaking his head, his jaw clenched. He’s in red boxer-briefs, a hell of a lot more appropriate than a jockstrap. He starts putting on track pants. “I’ve never yelled at someone on the 24/7 roster that harshly and been met with that intense of pushback. There’szerorespect there.”

I knot the strings of my sweatpants. “I’ve been too easy on him.”

J.P. is an Epsilon bodyguard. I’ve been his direct lead, and at the moment, I’m a co-Omega lead with Akara while on tour.

“He’s not green. J.P. should’ve known better,” Akara refutes. “And sooner or later, Epsilon bodyguards were going to try to test our authority.” Because we voted to keep Farrow on the team. Even though he broke a rule that would’ve sent any other bodyguard packing.

He slept with his client.

I nod and rake my hand across my unshaven jaw. Christmas lights blink in the private second-lounge of the bus. “I never thought he would’ve shirked blame onto a client.”

“Neither did I.”

We both would’ve kicked his ass out of the team a lot earlier. We have no tolerance for throwing clients under the bus—and what J.P. did tonight was worse than that. He backed that bus up repeatedly over one of the girls.

Fuck him.

I let him protect Luna. I paired them together.Fuck me. I breathe harsher breath out of my nose. I didn’t expect J.P. to rub a crystal ball or a fucking magic lamp and predict that Luna would sneak out.

His lack of foresight isn’t why he’s being fired.

It’s more about his lack of respect towards his client and towards us. It’s also not good that Luna activelywantedto ditch him.

She didn’t trust him.

And that’s on him.

And it’s on me. As a lead, I should’ve caught the compatibility issue so much sooner.

Akara checks his phone, then slips it in his pocket. “He’s put us in a shit position, and we’re going to have to make some tough decisions.”

With one bodyguard down, and an entire force on the road, the team will need to be re-shuffled and fast. It’s not a tough decision for me. I see what’s going to happen.

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