I wanted to know because of the game between us. I wanted to know because he knew my name. I wanted to know everything about him.

I picked the first reason because it was the easiest to explain "We have this game between us. I have three days to guess his name."

She looked to be thinking to herself and then it appeared she had reached a decision.

"I will tell you it." Mrs Lewis decided "Only because I know that whatever game you two are playing, he would want you to win. Stone is definitely Team Ella."

"Even if it is against himself?"

"Even then." She said.

I knew it was a good idea not to go into detail about the Rumpelstiltskin deal. If I told her that a kiss is what we were fighting for then she would not tell me his name.

The name that left her mouth made my heart skip a beat.

"His name is Valentine."

Valentine. His name was Valentine Stone.

I could not come up with a better name for him if I had tried. It suited him. There was something about the name that showed authority and dominance. It sounded mysterious yet majestic.

"Thank you." I said to her before I skipped out of the kitchen in victory.

I felt the pulse in my neck quiver as a hope bloomed in my chest.

“Mrs Lewis, has Stone ever had a girlfriend?” I questioned with a heated face and a anxious gut “Has he ever been interested in a relationship?”

Mrs Lewis scoffed and then laughed “Of course not!”

My head nodded autonomously, and I tried not to physically deflate at the news that he did not date.

My heart stopped racing as I climbed the stairs of the house. The white walls of the upper floor welcomed me at the top of the staircase, and I was glad to be out of the embrace of the meddling woman.

I reached for the door handle on the second door on the right of the hall like Mrs Lewis had told me. I pushed the door open and what I found only had my breathing unsettled again.

The room was not a bathroom. Four grey walls boxed the area with the only two prominent things being a black bed and a bookcase.

I was in Lurch's lair.

My feet were on autopilot as I took two steps forward. I was too far inside his bedroom to turn back now.

Running my hand along his collection of books, I smiled to myself.

The leather jacket wearing, motorbike riding, scowling giant was a bibliophile.

I knew that he always understood what I talked about when I mentioned books but not that he had read them.

I had leverage on him now. He could no longer give me shit about being a nerd when he had a miniature library in his room.