He owed me from the last prank I’d pulled, but I’d only been getting back at him for whatever he’d done before that. Our games had become beloved by the press and our fans were always eager to see what would happen next. My social media accounts basically existed purely to troll him. Cue cards may have been swapped on a few occasions. He’d popped out in Viking costume when I was doing an interview once, tossed me over his shoulder, and taken me backstage.

It was how we’d managed to find a balance between giving the public the glimpses into our relationship they demanded, without giving away the pieces we wanted to keep for ourselves. We could let them in on some of our fun without compromising too much on our privacy.

We were constantly trying to one-up each other…in and out of the bedroom.

Life was never dull.

When we finally reached the award for Best Actor, it was Kate presenting since she’d won her fourth Oscar last year. She’d also taken the helm directing Crown of Swords with a new cast and done a spectacular job. No one was more thrilled than Alex’s mom, who got to preserve her Lucas Steel fantasies since he wasn’t played by her son.

Alex reached over and took my hand while we waited for Kate to announce the award.

When she opened the envelope, I could tell from the look on her face that he’d won before she even read his name. His eyes met mine, full of pure joy. We kissed, then he practically ran up the stairs, not hiding his elation as he strode across the stage and accepted the statue from Kate. She gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek, then he stood in front of the microphone silently grinning for a few seconds like he couldn’t quite believe it.

I was so fucking proud of him.

When the applause had settled down enough for him to speak, he said, “Wow. I dreamed of this moment when I was a little kid and now I’m really up here and it doesn’t quite feel real. I need to quickly thank a list of people, so bear with me.” He read off a list that started with his family including Rami, then went through lots of people from the film and the industry.

I narrowed my eyes when he didn’t mention me, not because I thought he’d forgotten me, but because I knew he hadn’t.

“Winning for this film makes it even more special because I almost didn’t get to be part of it and getting to play this version of Darcy has been an incredible experience. I’m continually blown away by the reactions to it and by the support from the fans, so thank you all.

“Now, I know Elena is sitting there waiting for me to pull some kind of epic prank. I think our games are fairly well documented at this point, but instead of a joke, I’d like to get serious for a minute and thank her for being the light of my life who constantly challenges me to be better. She’s so brave and caring and smart that I’m humbled she even gives me the time of day.”