True Intention

Ch 24- When boys make you a gift, it means everything, Girl...

Naomi POV

I'd finally gifted Ren with his tattoo design, and he'd loved it.

I had a feeling he would, but I can't deny I was nervous. Art is very much like your baby, especially if a lot of emotion went into it. I can't deny that love was poured into the art. He was part of my strength, hence the dragons, my protector, hence the sword, and my dream, hence the clouds. He'd snuck out while I went to get dressed. Probably grumpy because there was no time for hanky-panky. The man was insatiable so far. Not sure if it would be different if we actually had s*x, but I somehow thought it would be worse.

Not that I was complaining.

Part of me appreciated how careful he was, and the other part of me weirdly craved him pushing my boundaries.

Speaking of which... I'd called the student clinic last week and made an appointment to get started on birth control. No matter what happened, it could not be bad to be prepared. I'd made it last Wednesday morning. With the amount of passion between us, who knew when we'd take that next step? My hymen had been intact until my first pap smear at eighteen, but only partially, so it hadn't been much of an issue. I'd had hardly any bleeding, barely felt a thing. I'd gone with the Mirena IUD, the non-copper kind.

So far, other than light period-like bleeding the first few days, it had been a breeze. It was nice not to have to remember pills or appointments (other than my yearly check up, obviously) for the next eight years, if I so chose to keep it for the maximum time.

Anyway. I got dressed before I ran out of time for coffee.

I wore a black bodycon hooded dress with long sleeves and a zipper from hem to waist on the right side. I wore buckled and studded black ankle boots, and a long burgundy cashmere cardigan that was also hooded under my black leather moto jacket. My mom had gotten me a deep teal cashmere beret with matching scarf and gloves last Christmas, and though it wasn't my usual color, I'd loved it instantly, and this rounded out my outfit for the day. I'd worn my hair in dual French braids.

The boys were all huddled around the kitchen island nursing coffees. I moved quickly to the Keurig, getting my usual coffee with no sugar and hazelnut creamer. Their eyes all followed me like tractor beams. Archer and Enzo were looking at me... expectantly? I'm not sure what they were waiting for. I tilted my head as I joined them all at the kitchen island.

"What's up, guys?" I asked curiously, wondering what bee had gotten in their bonnets this time. They did that a lot, stared at me like I should understand the question they were silently asking, even though I had no idea what they wanted.

Made me want to ask them if they thought heterochromia made me psychic

"So you made a tattoo for our boy here?" Enzo quipped. He was way too excited about it. What am I missing? Archer just grinned into his mug.

"Yeah... Should I not have done so?" I queried. Enzo shook his head adamantly.

"No, no, it's totally cool. I'm absolutely for it." He insisted emphatically.

"Ooookayyyy." I said, still not sure what the vibe was about.

"Let's go, babe." Ren said into my ear as his hand rested on my hip. He stood right behind me. I shivered, and he laughed lowly. "Later, Nao. I will reward you for your gift, hmm?" What he said was innocent, but the oath was ripe with dirty promise. s**t. My core clenched. He dragged me to class holding my hand, with our friends trailing behind. As we arrived at our classroom, he pulled me in for a very public scorching hot kiss. Well. Now people were going to ask if we were dating, and what was I going to say? Ugh. "I really, really love the design Nao. I know exactly who I'm going to have do the work, too." He grinned, then grabbed my hand again and pulled me to our seats.

He only let go of me when we needed to take notes.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't like his possessiveness. I knew it was hard for him to hold it in when other guys approached me, but he truly did his best to give me freedom, despite his constant need to be next to me. Maybe that's why it didn't bother me. Could it tilt into unhealthy territory? It could, but somehow I knew he would do everything he could to keep it from getting to that degree. I'd bet that he was well aware.

When we went to lunch he insisted I sit on his lap. I blushed but instinctively knew he needed the comfort of it. I could sense the insecurity he felt because our relationship was not well-defined. Not that he thought I'd actually date anyone else, or anything like that, it just limited the amount of authority he had on my behalf. He couldn't tell someone to back off unless they crossed a line in what they said or did.

While we had notched things up between us and were acting in a way we and our friends felt was natural, it soon became clear that others were not impressed. Guys were shooting glares at Soren, and girls were sneering and whispering. One finally had the balls to approach us. One of Carla's dumbass followers, of course, though thankfully fake girl was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess Carla wasn't wrong about you being a slut, hmm Naomi?" She said in a loud voice, clearly hoping to get as much attention as possible. Could nobody just, come at you head on and deal in facts? Why all this dirty reputation trashing? Oh, right. Because that's all these bitches can do to try and get what they want. Awful. I sat up, making Soren groan as my ass ground on his erect manhood. Oh. Poor baby. His fault for making me sit on his lap. I looked her in the eyes.

"Whether I am, was, or will be in the future, I don't see how it's your business. I don't think any of us know you." I said, gesturing around the table at our friends. "How is anything we do your concern?" The girl's mouth hung open, clearly not expecting me to defend myself. It wasn't that I couldn't. I just hadn't wanted to fight with anyone. I guess I was done with this bullshit. Thank you, Leslie, for helping me choose to fight back. "Cat got your tongue? Any other lame-ass insults with zero creativity or originality you wanna toss my way?" She was still unresponsive. I looked at Soren and raised a brow. "Maybe we should call for a medic?" Everyone at the table laughed, and the girl dashed away without saying another word. Soren stroked my cheek.

"Good girl." He grinned. I tsked.

"No." I said firmly.

"No what?" He replied, amused.

"No treating me like a dog. You don't want me calling you weird names like that either, do you?" I snipped. His grin only got wider.

"Babe, you can call me anything you want to. But if my saying that made you feel bad, I won't say it again, okay?" His hand was still on my cheek. "It wasn't my intention to make you feel less than perfect, Nao."

"I know that, I really do, but it's a... trigger." I whispered, and suddenly his face morphed into concern. "A lot of men use it when they... insist on pushing you to do things." He sighed and rested his forehead on mine.

"Got it babe. But really, you can call me anything. No triggers here." He smiled, and we shifted to other topics with our friends, talking about our current class projects.

As we walked to our final class, I saw Carla hovering along the pathway, looking around wildly. Ugh. Probably going to try and corner Ren, yet again. We were all usually with him, though it was only me at the moment. He pulled me behind a building and pulled out his phone, shooting off a quick text. He pulled me in the opposite direction, towards home.

"I messaged our teacher, tonight we're skipping Illustration." He grinned. "And that b***h Carla." When we got back to the house, he still held my hand. "Come to my room. I have something for you." He said seriously. I nodded. There was a covered canvas in the center of the room. He walked to his desk and lifted a piece of drawing paper, handing it to me. "I designed this for you. I thought maybe... We could go get them together? The guy I know is really good with fine line work."

I stared, awestruck, at the beautiful Japanese-style phoenix and clouds on the page. It looked eerily like a match to the one I made for him. He also held up a smaller piece of paper. It was a stylized Japanese lotus with a long, Buddhist-style line vertically through it, with swirls and dotted lines, one in a circle over the top of the flower. Simple and beautiful. I looked at him, a question in my eyes. He cleared his throat.

"I-I-I want to get... that one matching." He said, blushing. Oh. Oh. I get it, I really do. I was never going to deny him when he finally did ask me out, so of course I nodded. He grinned widely before recomposing himself. "One more thing. The piece I've been working on with you posing, it's done." He took a deep breath and pulled me over to the canvas, pulling off the cover.

My jaw dropped. This was beyond words. He's painted me standing, one leg slightly behind the other, making one hip tilt forward. My arms were raised to lift my hair as I raised my face to the moon. I was standing on some sort of ancient-looking terrace overlooking a lake and forest. He'd painted the shading in jewel-toned rainbows rather than black, and somehow the white portions of my skin looked like luminescent pearl. My eyes looked like gemstones, almost glowing. My lips curved into a gentle, loving smile. One he'd probably been the only one to see. And then it hit me.

This is how he sees me. My eyes teared up.

"I love it all, Soren. Thank you." I said, trying to hold back my emotion. He rubbed my shoulder, then lifted the canvas to bring it into my room. He kissed my cheek.

"I'm gonna make an appointment on Wednesday for our tats, alright? I'll be back in a little bit and we can go get dinner." He said, practically skipping off to do his thing. I whipped out my phone.

Naomi: Heidi... what does it mean if a guy makes you two tattoos and paints you beautifully?

Heidi: Duh, girl. He's freaking in love with you. But you already knew that.

Naomi: Love? I guess I did. But this feels like... more.

Heidi: Of course, wearing a tattoo he made you is like a brand. Especially if it matches.

Oh. Oh. Oh my.

Heidi: And if you gave him one too, it's the same girl. It means everything ;)

Suddenly I understood something very important. He hadn't said it, but Ren wanted forever.

And I also understood that I'd unconsciously announced that I wanted exactly that too.

But I meant it. I grinned.