Chapter Five: False Perceptions
Olivia rubbed her hands together briskly as she slid under the thin bed linen.
"The heater don't work," he mumbled as he scrolled though the channels until he found a station with one of many just add water insta-marriage reality shows. This one was based on science.
Butcher glanced over and saw how uncomfortably cold she was.
"These rooms aren't made for sleeping love, come closer, I'll keep ya warm."
Olivia frowned and shook her head.
"Don't be daft," he grumbled as she crossed her arms.
"Come here," he growled and yanked her against him, molding her against his side.
He heard her sharp intake as he slid his hand to rest on her lower back and adjusted her closer.
Olivia held herself stiff within the circle of his arms. Eventually her neck began to ache from holding her head at such an uncomfortable angle.
Butcher smiled when he felt her rest the side of her face over his heart.
He closed his eyes and left his hand resting on the curve of her lower back as the torrid show played in the background.
He knew his sleep would be deep and heavy with how much alcohol he had consumed. He reached over to a small, unzipped satchel on the rickety side table and pulled out a thick pair of nylon zip-ties.
"What are you doing?" she shouted, suddenly full of life as he closed one plastic loop around her slim wrist.
"I can't have you running about unattended can I?" he mumbled as he secured the other end to the headboard, still giving her ample space to move.
"Where could I go?" she shouted and yanked at the plastic bracelet.
"Anywhere but where I can see you is unacceptable," murmured as he pulled the linen up and around them and arranged her back into his arms.
Olivia lapsed into silence, knowing there was no reason to waste any kind of energy, tear, or word against the current situation.
She rolled her eyes as he quickly lapsed into a drunken sleep.
Olivia laid awake for several hours listening to the reality show wedding and Butcher's snoring before she also fell asleep.
In his essentially passed out state, he had somehow shifted lower in the bed and ended up with his arms wrapped around her waist and the side of his face pressed between her breasts, his snoring was smothered by the cotton long-sleeved night shirt he had hastily picked out at the big box retailer.
Olivia was not blessed with the dreamless sleep of the drunk and instead was plagued with visions of being chased by winged tormentors and monsters that jumped out of sewer holes.
Olivia's frantic moaning called Butcher from his deep sleep and he took a long time waking up. He blinked slowly as her shivering form within his grasp suddenly had him awake.
Butcher pulled the covers back up that had slipped from her shoulders and rubbed his hand up and down the chilly skin of her upper arm. He made low hushing sounds as he awkwardly tried to find a way to comfort her. He shifted until he could clip the nylon ties loose and gather her up more completely in his arms.
Olivia moaned in her sleep as he shifted her more fully into his arms.
Butcher adjusted the flat, lifeless pillow behind her head and moved with hesitating slowness to hook an errant lock of hair that had fallen over her face. He let the rough pad of his fingertip brush along the line of her cheekbone as he tucked the silken strands behind her ear.
He let his thumb trail down to trace the outline of her lips and shuddered lowly when she moaned in her sleep under his unusually light touch.
As Butcher succumbed to the alcohol's intoxicating embrace, back at the previous mechanic shop turned safehouse, emergency medical crews and fire personnel checked the rubble of ground zero that Stormfront and Homelander had created.
As the first responders and law enforcement searched and secured the scene, Butcher and Olivia continued to sleep.
Butcher stirred awake first and listened to her deep and even breathing before he opened his eyes. He ran his eyes over every square centimeter of her face and memorized each individual pore. He adjusted the linen around her after he slipped from the bed linen.
He took a quick shower and was drying his face as she stirred.
Olivia rubbed her eyes as she sat up in the tangled linen. She was instantly awake as her eyes found him drinking from a Styrofoam cup.
"Is that coffee?" she croaked.
Butcher nodded in the direction of the bedside table and her bleary eyes found an identical cup filled three-quarters of the way with black coffee. Next to the cup was a scattering of real and artificial sugar packets and plastic tubs of creamer that never expired.
"Thank you," she mumbled and sweetened the coffee until it could attract a honeybee and drank it quickly, anxious for the caffeine kick as it warmed her chest and belly.
Butcher and Olivia each drank their coffee as he found a new station that was in mid-segment of two survivors being pulled from the rubble of the mechanic shop turned safe house.
Butcher turned up the volume as the Fire Chief addressed a pool of reporters and stated two survivors were transferred to a critical care unit at the heart of the city. The names were currently being withheld.
Olivia nearly choked on the French roast as her face flashed on the screen as missing, her phone and identification were found at the scene but no body. A preliminary sketch of Billy also flashed on the screen, the crude drawing captured his haunting eyes and furrowed brow. A toll-free number flashed on the screen for any information on either of them.
The news anchor projected concern at the camera as she pleaded for safety for the young doctor and flashed another picture of Olivia. The picture was Olivia at her sister's wedding the summer before in a vintage couture pale peach off the shoulder gown.
Butcher set down his coffee cup as he turned to look at Olivia nestled among the tangled bed linen. He suddenly saw an image of the shattered hummingbird in the front of his mind.
He clicked off the tv and cleared his throat before he spoke. "Well, looks like our travel plans have changed love," he murmured with a smirk.
"What does that mean?"
"We'll have to head north, avoid the main roads, tolls. We'll need a new car too," he said more to himself.
"I'm not traveling anywhere further with you," she said as she sat up straighter before she continued. "You saw the news, let me walk out of here and hitchhike home, I'll say I don't remember anything."
Butcher shook his head, "that don't work anymore. You're stuck with me."
Olivia scoffed and pushed the covers away as she got out of the bed.
"Where ya going love?"
"To take a shower," she spit and slammed the cheap bathroom door.
Butcher grinned at the closed door and listened as she yanked on the faucet.
He snuck back to the vending machine and fed a few more quarters and dollar bills for some wheat crackers with a cheese-colored cheese spread and some cookies. Before she cranked the faucet off, he called his mom and tried to explain away the news footage she had seen, gave her an IOU for a visit from him and his fiancée and then destroyed his phone. The van was old enough that it didn't have a factory installed GPS system.
Olivia emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her wet hair.
She was grateful to see the carb-loaded and sugary snacks on the bedside table.
Butcher watched her root in the plastic store bags for a generic body lotion with a heady lavender scent.
She settled against the headboard and watched the news rerun the same news conference with the fire chief.
When the commercial break started, Butcher set the remote control aside and walked to the bathroom to wipe his hands clean of the sticky remnants of his packaged breakfast pastry.
He wiped his hands dry as he watched Olivia in the mirror's reflection. He set the washcloth down on the cracked countertop as he watched her towel dry her hair and run a plastic comb through the damp strands.
He held his breath as she pulled up the legs of her loose sleepwear to her knees and squeezed the narrow tube of lotion until she plopped a dollop on her shin and began spreading it on her lower legs and feet.
Butcher's chest tightened and he gripped the counter until his knuckles turned white as she massaged more lotion into her elbows and shoulders. His eyes tracked her every move as she ran her hand over the top of her chest. He became hypnotized by the circular motion of her hands over her neck and shoulders before she squeezed more lotion into her palm and began to massage the scented cream onto her right knee.
His brain made him move before he was consciously aware and noisily pushed open the door the rest of way. She flinched and nearly dropped the bottle as he stomped towards her.
"Stop doing that," he shouted as he ripped the store brand tube from her startled grasp.
"What?" she said as she held her hands out in front of hers, futile in an attempt at any kind of defense but she projected a lot of energy into the façade.
"I'd like to be doing that," he murmured in a gravelly rasp.
Olivia scooted away from him and pulled at the linen anxious to be under them.
She gave a startled shout when he moved with terrifying speed and captured her closest ankle.
Olivia remained frozen as he began to massage his strong hands on her foot.
She held her breath as he squeezed the bottle before he slid his hands up her calf and hooked a hand behind her knee. She gave a gasp and an unarticulated sound as he pulled her closer so he could slide both hands further up her thighs, he slipped his fingers in the waistband of her cotton pants and tugged them free. A deep growl rumbled through his chest and made her shiver involuntarily.
"Wait," Olivia stammered and tried to yank her pants back in place.
Butcher remained steadfast and nearly tore the fabric as he ripped it free from her body, leaving her lower half clad only in a pair of navy-blue panties.
"I can't give you what you want," Olivia murmured urgently and tried to squirm away from him as he slid his hand up the inside of her right thigh.
"We need each other love," Butcher murmured as he captured her wrists and settled his weight against her, squashing much of her movements.
Olivia couldn't help but scoff and shake her head. "How do you even begin to figure something like that?"
"Because I know what you need," he growled as he dropped his face to the curve of her neck and pressed his lips over her pounding carotid pulse.
Butcher raised his head and met her eyes. "I know what you need," he repeated as he shifted his weight and forced her thighs further apart.
Olivia almost rolled her eyes as he continued.
"I know exactly what your problem is."
"Oh yeah?"
He chuckled as he nodded.
The tone was too masculine, and her uterus was instantly paying attention to his every syllable.
"Please humor me."
"You need someone to hold you down and get rid of all this tension," he growled and transferred his hold on her wrists to one hand as he used his free hand to begin tugging at the buttons of her night shirt.
"Oh, really? Is that your ….. your clinical diagnosis?" she spit nervously and tried to control her breathing.
Butcher let his smile shine on the inside as he slid his free hand to cup her panty covered intimacy.
"No love, my official diagnosis is that you need someone to give you a mind-blowing fuck and help you breathe a little easier."
"What makes you think I haven't tested that theory and found it a waste of time and needless ego booster for some guy?"
"I know you haven't properly tested anything except some quick fucks in the copy room and from the uneducated."
"Do tell," she tried to say without letting her voice tremble as he began moving his palm in slow circles on the panty-covered outside of her pink, wet center.
"Because your whole body is reacting to everything I'm saying, and you want me to fuck you until you feel better."
Butcher paused his hand as he heard her breath hitch and watched anger, fear, hurt and something else unidentifiable flash across her features.
Butcher moved his hand from the apex of her thighs and back to her birthmark. Olivia was able to somewhat start catching her breath as he rubbed the pad of his thumb over its faintest raised edges.
"You never told me how many people have seen this," he murmured as he captured her eyes.
"None of your fucking business," Olivia shouted as she bucked her hips and put all her energy into shaking free at least one of her hands. She succeeded in scratching at his neck as he caught her flailing wrists and roughly turned her over until his formidable frame kept her flattened to the bed. Her breath left her lungs before he covered her mouth.
Billy interpreted her defensive answer to mean a large number of cocks sucked and fucked.
She shouted behind her hand as he smoothed a hand down the front of her plain panties.
"Shhh," Billy soothed as his fingers found her bare, intimate flesh. He teased her feminine folds until they were wet and slid his fingertips along her soaked slit until his cock threatened to bust through his worn pants.
Olivia shook her head as he focused his index finger in methodical circles around her clit until she could barely breathe behind his large palm.
She screamed against his hand as he fumbled at his zipper and stroked his cock once it was free of the confines of his suddenly too tight pants.
Billy grunted as she tried to shake out of his grip as he tore off her panties.
"It won't take long love, you'll feel better," he growled and licked a wet line up the length of her back as he plunged his cock into her without letting her speak or move much.
She cried out behind his palm with his first few rough thrusts. Billy immediately knew he had wildly misjudged her in every way when he pushed himself inside her tight center and felt his cock burst through her internal flimsy resistance.
Butcher grunted as their intimate flesh wetly kissed.
Billy lifted his hand and listened to her start to hyperventilate as he tried to lessen his disjointed pace and lighten his touch. Olivia cried and moaned softly as he changed his pace. He pulled his rigid cock from her aching center as she kept her eyes squeezed shut as he pulled her hair from the curve of her neck before pressing his mouth against her flushed skin. He smoothed a hand around the front of her to rest on her belly and splayed his fingers, his hand becoming a warm five-legged octopus on her supple flesh.
Butcher felt her pulse pounding under his lips as he groaned and fought the urge to bury his throbbing cock back inside her.
Olivia coughed and mumbled something too incoherent for him to decipher.
Butcher tugged on her shoulder, "what was that?"
Olivia turned her face the other direction and he growled in frustration as he roughly turned her over.
He tried to catch her wrists without hurting her as she slapped and yelled at him.
"I didn't know," Butcher murmured as he nuzzled his face in the curve of her neck. "Look at me," he added in a demanding whisper.
Olivia squeezed her eyes shut until he cupped a hand to her jaw, letting his thumb trace along her lower lip. "Please," he added in a rough growl.
"I can do better," he growled as she opened her eyes and met his searching gaze. "I can do better," he repeated as his warm exhale against her lips made her shiver while she simultaneously broke out in a fine sheen of sweat.
Butcher shifted and slid his hand from her jaw down the front of her body. His first touch against her wet folds earned him a gasp and made his painfully hard cock twitch against the inside of her thigh.
Olivia bit her lower lip as his touch created electric twinges through her body.
"Let me try love," he begged as she began to lose control and he pushed her closer to an orgasmic abyss. "Please," he added in a groan that revealed his vulnerabilities, his unspoken wants and needs in that one syllable.
Olivia met his eyes as she blew out a slow breath and barely nodded as he forced her into the embrace of an overpowering orgasm that left her wet, trembling, and vulnerable under his piercing gaze.
Butcher couldn't suppress a primal groan as he plunged himself back inside her, stopping only when he couldn't sink inside her any further. He knew he was going to be unable to stop from finishing at a record time.
Billy felt himself hypnotized by her ragged breathing and the feeling of her sweaty skin under his palm. He slid his hand up to cradle the back of her skull before he tightened his hand into a fist and yanked her neck back taut until he could whisper against her flushed skin.
"I don't hate you," he moaned as he lessened his painful grasp within the silken fall of her hair and crushed his lips to hers as his orgasm washed over him. He let his cock stay firmly inside her until it softened and slid out.
Billy let his forehead rest against the top of her shoulder as he caught his breath.
Before he spoke he lifted himself onto one elbow and traced the fingertips of one hand along the angles of her face.
Olivia flushed under his wordless gaze from so close as she felt his hot, sticky cum leaking out of her wet center.
"I don't hate you," he repeated and lowered his lips to hover over hers as he held her eyes and added. "I don't understand you."
Olivia's breath hitched and she couldn't find her words as he continued. Each of his words was delivered on a hot exhale against her lips.
"I want to know everything about you."
Olivia cleared her throat and fought to hold his gaze. "Why?"
"The moment I saw you, I wanted you all to myself," he whispered before he pressed his lips against hers.
