Hey guys! This chapter is very small and it is a Rucas conversation that puts context, but I didn't want to put it with another chapter so I separated it.

KING LUCAS

CHAPTER 27

"Do you?" She asked again, after Lucas hadn't replied to her question.

He was thinking about every scenario that could happen, but he didn't have to hide his pursue after Maya anymore. In fact, if he got Riley to spill the details about the relationship between Maya and Josh, he could be one step ahead, because he was sure that the blonde girl would never reveal what was wrong with her relationship, specially to him.

It was a good thing that Lucas had cultivated his friendship with Riley, when playing with people was your game, you could never have enough "friends", they were a key part in understanding each other, without them Lucas wouldn't have a kingdom.

The only doubt he had in his mind was if Riley would ever tell Maya about Lucas' feelings, he was planning on droping that bomb, according to schedule, in a month. Although most of the plans he had for Mayaa hadn't turned out the way he was expecting.

Maya was the type of girl that got scared too easily, not about anything, actually there were few things he could think of that would actually scare Maya. Lucas knew that Maya's biggest fear was hoping for the best, and if he went today and told her he had feelings for her she would feel under pressure and run away before getting the chance to get hurt.

But... If he got into her heart slowly, the way he was doing it, her feelings would be inevitable and she would be emotionally invested before she could stop it, and she would have no other choice but to confess her feelings to him

There was also the risk that if he waited too long, then Maya would begin to overthink what she was feeling and decide it was a bad idea, so he couldn't risk it and take too long.

Lucas had already crossed the barrier of "we have chemistry", that was a no return point, he was sure that left a mark or impact in Maya's life, so the next thing he could offer her could not be less than what had already happen. He could only hope to find a positive result if his next move was to admit a psychological/emotional connection between them and that was the plan and Riley could not ruin it.

The thing was that Riley had never seem delighted by the relationship between Maya and Josh, so if he made her talk trash about them, Lucas was sure that everything said in his car would stay there.

"Honestly, I don't know, Riles." He began, taking a deep breath in. "I never expected to catch feelings for her."

"But you did?" She was looking at him.

"I thought this month away would help me disassociate from her, but I almost lost my mind." It was a bad thing they were driving, he couldn't turn too see her reactions.

"And Jessica?" Riley asked him. "You two made a great couple."

"She was great, but appearances can be conceiving." He looked quickly, she was looking out of the window. "I mean, we made a great couple too, look how that turned out. It just feels differently with Maya."

He wasn't lying, it was something else when he was with her. He couldn't quite explain it, but he was never bored with her, there was always something to do, or something to say.

"Why don't you tell her that?" Riley asked, when they were in a stop light, he frowned.

"Are you crazy?" He simply asked, they fell silent for a minute before he talked again. "I would scare her away. Besides, she's happy with Josh, right?"

Riley remained quiet, looking out of the window, pretending to see a pigeon that wasn't there.

"Right, Riley?" He repeated.

She turned to look at him. "Yes, very happy." He knew immediately that she was lying. He stopped the car.

"Okay, I gotta know, why don't you like Josh?" He asked, seriously, this was it. "Because I've talked to Farkle and he doesn't like him either."

She was panicking, it was clear that she didn't know what to do.

"Riley, tell me." He said, she covered her face with her hands and denied with her head.

"I can't, she'll kill me." She spoke through her hands.

"C'mon, you're dying to tell me. She will never hear it from me, I promise." He said, desperately, although he knew that she was about to crack.

"Josh is family and I love him, I just don't think he and Maya should be together." Riley said, playing with the hem of her top. "Maya always had the biggest crush on him, but he always turned her down, you know, he's three years older than her."

Lucas frowned, maybe the age difference wasn't so much, but they were in very different times of their lives, she was still in high school and he was already in college. Although Maya was very mature, this meant Josh was the one wanting to stay behind.

"How did they end up together?" Lucas wanted to know.

"After he moved to New York for college, he began paying more attention to Maya, hanging with us more often, last year he finally asked her out, they've been together on and off ever since." She explained, Lucas could hear a sense of relief in her voice, who knows how long has Riley been feeling this way.

It was a good thing that they weren't an stable couple, they broke easily, he just had to find the thing that would crack them.

"To me, the timing of their relationship seems a little odd, you know, why date a high school student if he has all the college girls on his reach?" She added.

Maybe Riley wasn't so clueless after all, they were both bothered by the same question. Though Lucas already had the answer he needed, Josh hadn't fit in as easily in New York, he seemed like he tried too hard to be cool, and maybe he was before moving here. Maybe him and Josh weren't so different, had that been what Maya saw in him? He pushed that thought away.

"But does he love her?" He asked Riley, a few blocks away from her building.

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it quickly.

"He does." She replied, but Lucas frowned, she didn't sound confident enough of her answer.

"And does she love him too?"

"Yes." She replied immediately, Lucas' throat felt painfully tangled. "But I think she is in love of a part of him." She added.

"What do you mean?" He stopped in front of her apartment building, some girls were jumping rope in front of it.

"Josh was the shoulder Maya cried in when she reconnected with her dad a few years ago–" She looked outside, afraid that Maya would be outside, listening to her. "I think that's when she fell in love with him."

Lucas narrowed his eyes, Riley got down of the car and thanked him for the ride. He didn't know Maya's past enough to understand the emotional attachment that she had with Josh.

He would have to dig deeper and only Maya could share her story with him, but he already knew how it would go down, he would have to share his own life if he wanted Maya's trust. There was something so dangerous of opening up the past, that he wasn't sure if the challenge was worth it, he had worked so hard to keep his demons away and this meant bringing them back to life. Although, Lucas somehow knew that they had been creeping up on him lately.

He was carrying a double edge sword and it was time to decide what he would do with it.