Chapter 54: A King Needs His Crown

The jet hums beneath me, a gentle vibration that melts into the general floaty feeling of whatever Caterina gave me before takeoff. I’m sprawled across her lap on the private jet’s luxurious couch, my head nestled against her shoulder, my gross hands resting limply in my lap. Everything feels soft around the edges, wrapped in cotton and warmth.

Caterina’s crimson eyes keep darting down to me, her perfect lips twitching at the corners like she’s trying not to burst out laughing. Every few minutes, she’ll make this little snorting sound, then compose herself again, stroking my hair with calculated tenderness.

Across from us, Maddy sits primly in a single leather seat, her sharp features softened slightly by the hint of a smile as she pretends to focus on her tablet. Lara lounges in the adjacent seat, her wild red hair a stark contrast to the jet’s muted interior, her blue eyes gleaming with predatory curiosity.

“What’s so funny, boss?” Lara finally asks, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. “You’ve been about to lose it for the last hour.”

I feel heat rush to my face as memories from this morning flood back through the drug haze. “Don’t tell her, Cat,” I mumble, burying my face against Caterina’s silk blouse. “It’s so embarrassing.”

Caterina feigns a frown, her crimson eyes narrowing in mock offense. “You think I would ever talk about our love life, Adam?” she asks, her voice dripping with exaggerated indignation.

I sigh, not knowing the right answer. The drugs make everything fuzzy and pleasant, but they don’t make social cues any easier to read.

“I have no idea,” I admit, my voice slightly slurred. “I’m on cloud nine right now.”

A smile tugs at the corner of her perfect lips, but she suppresses it quickly, replacing it with another theatrical frown.

“Hmm, perhaps I should lower your dosage,” she muses, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully.

I don’t believe her for a second. She only punishes me if I do something wrong, and I’ve been so good lately. The very thought makes me snuggle closer, my body instinctively seeking more contact with hers.

The movement seems to please her. Her pretense drops away as a genuine smile spreads across her face, illuminating her crimson eyes with that dangerous light I’ve come to crave.

“My, my, Adam,” she purrs, her fingers threading through my hair with possessive tenderness. “You really are so obedient now.”

Her words wash over me like warm honey, sweet and thick with approval. I feel myself practically melting against her, my damaged hands twitching with the desire to touch her in return.

“I want to be,” I whisper against her skin.

Lara bursts into laughter, slapping her knee with unrestrained delight. “Boss, I can’t believe you speedran giving Stockholm syndrome to Adam! That’s gotta be some kind of record!”

Maddy sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sets her tablet down on the side table. The gesture is subtle but speaks volumes about how often she deals with Lara’s inappropriate outbursts.

Caterina’s fingers pause in my hair, her body tensing slightly beneath me. Her crimson eyes narrow as they lock on Lara’s gleeful face.

“Must you word it so savagely?” she asks, her voice carrying that dangerous silk quality that usually precedes someone getting hurt. “I merely accelerated his adaptation to a more suitable lifestyle. It’s for his best, really.”

I should feel offended or at least disturbed by their casual discussion of my psychological state, but between the drugs, Connor’s safety, and Jessica’s safety, who cares. As long those two are secure, nothing else matters. If I’m enjoying myself, it just makes it better for them. That’s not my fault.

Caterina glances down at me, her crimson eyes softening with genuine affection.

“Adam, don’t you feel happier now than you did before you were with me?”

The question hangs in the air between us, loaded with more meaning than her casual tone suggests. I consider my old life, the cramped apartment, the constant money stress, the complete lack of bitches.

I look up at her, a lazy smile spreading across my face. “Cat, if I had to go back to eating Burger King off paper plates, I’d kill myself.”

Maddy’s eyebrows shoot up, her forehead creasing with confusion. “Didn’t I just deliver you Burger King yesterday to her office?” she asks, her voice tinged with genuine puzzlement.

I turn toward her with a grin splitting my face, feeling strangely proud of myself. “Yeah, Caterina fed it to me off fine china.”

The cabin erupts with laughter, even Maddy’s usually composed features break a little. Caterina throws her head back, her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders as she laughs with unrestrained delight.

“See?” Caterina says once the laughter subsides, her crimson eyes gleaming as she looks at Maddy and Lara. “He’s adapting beautifully.”

As Caterina continues to stroke my hair, a random thought bubbles up through my drug-hazed mind. I stare out the oval window at the clouds drifting by, the jet engines humming steadily.

“Hey, do you think this plane is big enough to 9/11 with?” I ask.

The cabin goes silent. Maddy looks over at me with horrified eyes, her tablet nearly slipping from her fingers. Caterina’s hand freezes mid-stroke in my hair, her crimson eyes widening with genuine surprise.

Lara, however, just scoffs loudly. “Yeah, right,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused by her dismissive tone.

Lara leans forward in her seat, her wild red hair framing her face like flames. “9/11 didn’t happen because of planes, idiot.”

“What?” I blink at her, trying to process what she’s just said.

Maddy immediately puts down her tablet, alarm flashing across her face. “No, please don’t get her started,” she groans.

“The planes were actually missiles covered in holograms,” Lara continues, completely ignoring Maddy’s plea. Her blue eyes gleam with manic energy as she warms to her topic. “Smart people believe the Bush administration did it to justify invading Iraq for oil. Everyone knows this.”

“Everyone does not know this,” Maddy interjects, her voice strained with exasperation. “Because it’s not true.”

Lara waves her hand dismissively. “That’s what they want you to think. Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams!”

I look up at Caterina, who’s watching this exchange with an expression somewhere between amusement and annoyance. Her fingers resume their gentle stroking of my hair.

“Is she serious?” I whisper, though, in the confined space of the jet cabin, everyone can hear me.

“Unfortunately,” Caterina sighs, her crimson eyes rolling skyward. “Lara has... unique perspectives on certain historical events.”

“Unique?” Lara exclaims, clearly offended. “I’m just not a sheep blindly accepting the official narrative!”

I roll my eyes. “Let me guess, you think COVID was probably an inside job too?”

Lara’s brow furrows in genuine confusion. “What’s COVID?”

I blink, momentarily unsure if this is part of her conspiracy theorist schtick or if she genuinely doesn’t know. I turn to Caterina, bewilderment clear on my face.

“Cat, she doesn’t remember COVID?” I ask, my voice pitched higher with disbelief.

Caterina tilts her head, her crimson eyes studying me with curious intensity. “I don’t know what that is either.”

My brain short-circuits for a moment. I push myself up from Caterina’s lap, the drugs in my system making the movement clumsy. “The pandemic? Lockdowns? Everyone wearing masks for like two years? That whole global nightmare?”

Maddy exchanges a concerned glance with Caterina. “Adam, are you feeling alright? Perhaps the medication is causing some confusion.”

“No, no, I’m not…” I stop myself, suddenly uncertain. The drugs are making everything fuzzy, but I know COVID happened. Everyone knows COVID happened. Don’t they?

“Maybe it was a dream you had?” Lara suggests, looking almost sympathetic. “Or a movie you watched? I mean, a global pandemic would be pretty memorable.”

I sink back against Caterina, my damaged hands trembling slightly. “But it was real. Everyone was stuck at home. We had to wear masks everywhere.”

Caterina pulls me closer, her arms wrapping around me with a protective urgency that makes my heart race. Her silk blouse cool against my burning cheek.

“Shh, baby,” she whispers, her voice soft and soothing. “This is part of those fake memories, remember? This is because of the assault, okay? But I’m here. You’re safe.”

I feel her lips brush against my head as she continues to hold me, her heartbeat steady against my ear.

“I’ll always keep you safe from now on,” she promises, her words vibrating through her chest and into my body.

Her breast is smooshed against my face, the soft pressure making it hard to fight against the comfort she’s offering. The drugs in my system amplify the sensation, turning it into a cocoon of bliss that wraps around my frazzled nerves.

‘I guess Covid didn’t happen in this world.’

“Thanks,” I mumble against her blouse.

As the conversation fades into comfortable silence, my gaze drifts aimlessly around the cabin. That’s when I notice something tucked beside Lara on her seat, a folded blue fabric that looks vaguely familiar. Squinting, I realize it’s a baseball cap.

“What’s that hat for?” I ask, nodding toward the blue cap next to Lara.

The atmosphere in the cabin shifts instantly. Caterina’s body tenses beneath me, her fingers pausing mid-stroke in my hair. Lara’s eyes widen slightly before her face splits into an evil grin.

“Oh, uhh, don’t worry about that,” Caterina says quickly, her voice carrying an unusual note of discomfort.

Lara snickers but doesn’t say anything, her blue eyes dancing with mischief as she glances between me and the hat. The awkward silence stretches between us, making my drugged brain work overtime, trying to figure out what’s going on.

“Is it okay?” I press, suddenly concerned about why a simple hat is causing such a weird reaction.

Caterina sighs, her crimson eyes briefly closing as if she’s mentally calculating the best approach. When she opens them, there’s a resigned acceptance in her gaze.

“It’s the hat you wore a while ago,” she admits, her voice carefully neutral.

Curiosity piqued, I shift in her lap to get a better look. Lara, still grinning like a maniac, holds it up for me to see. The blue baseball cap unfolds in her hands, revealing white embroidered letters across the front that read: “Please be patient I have autism” in cheerful, rounded font.

I remember the embarrassment of stealing that hat.

“Oh,” I say quietly, heat rising to my cheeks as the full weight of the memory settles on me. “That hat.”

Caterina reaches over and takes the hat from Lara, examining it with an amused smile playing on her lips. She runs her fingers over the embroidered words, crimson eyes flickering between the cap and my face.

“We might have you wear it at the track. That way, if anyone notices you seem particularly... medicated, they’ll just assume it’s because of this.”

I stare at the hat for a long moment, torn between humiliation and the desperate need to please her. The drugs swimming through my system make the decision easier than it should be. What’s a little public embarrassment compared to… Hammer.

“If it’s what you want, it’s fine,” I sigh, my damaged hands twitching in my lap.

Caterina’s crimson eyes light up. She leans down, pressing her lips against my forehead in a gesture that’s equal parts reward and ownership.

“Good boy.”