I chewed my bottom lip, hoping and praying that I was imagining things and I had just hallucinated the entire scenario in my sleep deprived head.
But the look on Dre's face reassured me that I was indeed caught red handed in bed with Austin after he made it clear that he was not my biggest fan to begin with.
He barely scoffed underneath his breath as he continued to stare at me, both of us speechless as we were unsure what to do.
"Why am I not surprised?" He muttered to himself, breaking the stark silence with his harsh words as he spoke just before he turned on his heels, closing the door shut behind him.
I swallowed the brick in throat as I shifted my gaze to Austin once more, who was still completely knocked out throughout my more than awkward moment with his right hand man.
"Fuck." I whispered to myself, throwing my head back into the pillow below me as I contemplated what to do.
Dre already held a tainted impression of me since he had the wrong idea that I was some sort of newbie slacker that didn't care about her job and that was just trying to claw her way into the life of the rich and famous Post Malone.
But I had to prove to him that I was quite the opposite and not just sleeping with Austin for the hell of it.
I somehow found all of the courage I could gather after my moment of utter embarrassment and decided to slip out of the comfort of mine and Austin's shared bed. I managed to maneuver my way out of the arms of the very man that was always getting me into trouble, to reach for my tee shirt that was laying carelessly on the ground.
After pulling it over my head, I slipped my panties on, followed by my jeans before sucking in a sharp breath and nearly forced my body out of the door to stick up for myself and my relationship with Austin.
I knew Austin wanted to tell Dre on his own terms but considering what had just happened, I would have to say, the terms have changed.
I ran my fingers through my sexed hair, smoothing it into place before I closed the door behind me and made my way downstairs to look for Dre.
As I made my way down the stairs case, I noticed Chris and Jay sitting in the living room, playing video games with an abundance of Bud Light cans surrounding them while Dre was alone in the kitchen, fixing himself what looked like a stiff drink.
"Lena! I'm sorry if we woke you. Are we being too loud?" Jay called to me apologetically as he caught me in the corner of his eye.
I tucked a loose piece of a brunette curl behind my ear as I nervously smiled at him.
"No Jay, you guys didn't wake me. I just want a glass of water." I answered as I walked past Dre to retrieve a glass from one of the cabinets.
"Good I'm glad. I'm sure after last night you've had enough of us." He chuckled, referring to how drunk they all were.
"Austin's lucky you took care of his ass or he woulda been hung the fuck over today." He laughed, shaking his head.
I could feel not only Dre's stare but Chris's, burning through me as I chuckled in response to Jay comment.
"Yeah I don't think I've ever seen him that drunk." I rolled my eyes.
"How could you? You've only been on the team a few months." Dre muttered only loud enough for me to hear, riling up my anger as I filled my glass with ice cold water.
"Can we talk?" I mumbled to him as his eyes finally met mine, a look of disdain replacing the kind eyes I remembered from we first met.
Was it that big of a problem for me to be involved with Austin? He was behaving as if I had committed some sort of crime. I understood he only wanted to look out for his friend, but his friend was the man I wanted to spend my life with, so him standing in our way didn't exactly sit well with me.
"Yeah I think we should." He answered, gesturing for me to follow him to the billiards room, out of Chris and Jay's earshot.
I nervously walked behind him, unsure how exactly this conversation was going to go. But I knew one thing for sure. I was going to have some convincing to do.
"Look Dre, I-" I began, ready to explain the entire situation to him, from start to end. How Austin and I were fooling around in the beginning, but how it ended up with us falling desperately for each other. But I was swiftly cut off by Dre's unexpected words of shock.
"You're fired."
You've got to be fucking kidding me. I just got this damn job back. There's no way in hell I'm getting fired again. Especially by someone who's not Austin.
Typically, I would have begged and pleaded for him to hear me out, like some sort of helpless little girl. But I wasn't going to play that shit. I was tired.
Tired of person after person pulling me away from the man I was suppose to be with.
"Excuse me?" I cocked my brow in confusion, as if I hadn't heard him correctly, though his abrasive words were as clear as day.
"Pack your bags and I'm going to book your flight home." He responded calmly, as if it were no big deal for me to just leave the team, without any sort of explanation and without any consultation with Austin.
"Dre I'm not going anywhere. You can't just fire me. Austin-"
"Austin gave me the authority to fire anyone that is apart of Posty Cooperation. So actually I can fire you. I don't need his permission." He cut me off once again, his expression unreadable yet cold.
"And I'm telling you, you just might want to get his permission. Because if I go wake him up right now, I can guarantee you, he will not be thrilled with the fact that you are trying to get rid of me." I fought back, trying my best not to get emotional as I stood my ground.
"Lena I'm trying to give you a clean break. I'm trying to be nice here. Just leave and no one will have to find out about this. We will pay for your ticket home and you will stay away from Austin."
"Dre you have the completely wrong idea. We are together. I love him."
The words sounded foreign as they left my mouth but they felt right as I confessed them out loud.
"Yeah you and half the women in the world." He rolled his eyes as he continued, as if I were some sort of crazed obsessed fan that was completely delusional and out of her fucking mind.
"Congratulations, you got him to sleep with you. Now go along your merry way before you try to bleed him dry of everything he has."
I started to lowly chuckle as he had no idea what he was playing at.
I wasn't just some random hookup that he could ship off without a trace and Austin would just wake up tomorrow, with no questions asked.
I was Austin's girlfriend. The girl he fought and pleaded to be with.
I wasn't going anywhere. And I sure as hell wasn't going to keep just leave without putting up a fight.
"Look. It's late and I really don't have the energy to be arguing with you right now. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go back upstairs, to mine and Austin's room and I'm going to go to sleep. He's going to wonder where I am if he wakes up and sees I'm not there. We can discuss this in the morning. Goodnight Dre."
I turned away from him, leaving him taken aback at my bold fearlessness and made my way through the kitchen. I traveled back up the long staircase and down the hall to the bedroom.
Once I reached inside, I let out the breath I was holding before I began peeling off my jeans and tee shirt, tossing them to the ground.
I tip toed over to my side of the bed and carefully tucked myself underneath the blankets, afraid to wake Austin with any sudden movements. I let myself sink into the sheets as my mind raced from my conversation with Dre.
Why was he so adamant about firing me? Did he not understand Austin was a grown man and could make his own decisions? We didn't need some one else calling the shots on our relationship. And why did he automatically assume that I wanted him for his money?
But as annoyed as I was for the previous events had just went down, I was proud of myself for fighting for us. Even though Dre didn't believe me, I stood up for myself. I stood up for my relationship with the man I loved.
I felt Austin begin to stir in his sleep beside me and let out a soft groan as he stretched. He wrapped his strong arm around my torso pulling me into his chest.
I listened to the steady beat of his pounding heart as I traced small circles against the tattoo inked onto the side of his torso as I let out my soft breaths against his skin.
I thought he was still fast asleep until his fingers gently traced the arch of my back as his eyes remained shut.
"I thought I told you to leave my milkshake alone Lena." He mumbled, his voice full of sleep as I realized what tattoo I was running my fingers over.
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, letting myself forget all about my predicament with Dre.
That was tomorrow's problem, because for right now, I wasn't going to let anyone disturb the sense of pure bliss that I felt as I laid in Austin's arms.