I could feel my lip twitch as he referenced the story.

My respect for the leather jacket-wearing giant had gone up. Slightly.

To show I was not taken aback that he knew the poem, I laughed his words off "I only keep things that are valuable. That doesn’t include your heart."

As an interesting scene appeared on the screen, I side glanced at him with a smile "So you are a book nerd then?"

The gravelly rough voice grumbled "No."

"It is okay, Lurch." I let out another laugh as I winked at him "Your secret is safe with me."

His pupils seemed to dilate as he listened to the sounds of my laughs.

"If you were a nerd then it might make me like you more." I mentioned in hopes that he would admit it.

"You like me just fine." He gruffly released the sentence from his chest like he was trying to convince himself rather than me.

I looked around and noticed that I had run out of pillows to throw at him.

"No." I smiled as I denied his statement "I really don’t."

"Brennan's mom reads a lot of books." Stone's deep voice mumbled quietly "I might have read one or two from her."

"What are his parents like?" I questioned, not knowing where the sudden curiosity came from.

"They are good people. I consider them my parents." He stated before he went on to tell me "One of the first times I got kicked out of school was because I got into a fight with this fucker that said that they were not my family because they had a different colour of skin."

"What an asshole." I said aloud.

I did not bother to ask who won the fight. The answer was obvious. Stone had to have been the tallest and most well-built person I had ever seen. He was also the most intimidating.

The giant and I fought verbally but he would be the last person I would get into a physical fight with.

I was one hundred percent sure he could squash anyone.

"How many times have you been kicked out of school?" I questioned, realising that he made it sound like there had been loads of occasions.

Silence hung in the air for a while.

Stone peered at my legs that were resting against his lap, and he did not meet my eye when he answered "Seventeen."

"What for?" I asked gently, trying my best to hide my astonishment.

"Fighting."

"Great." I joked with a teasing smile "I have let Rocky Balboa into my apartment."

His head rapidly turned to the side and his eyes quickly traversed my face. His jaw clenched and unclenched in a vicious tempo as he removed a hand from my leg and ran it through his inky black hair.

"Ella." His deep voice was hoarse and quiet when he assured strongly "I would never hurt you. I would rather—"