Darkness of Mind: The Black Veil, #1

By John Marcus Brown

On the first day of class, Miguel Watson meets Angie Smith and her best friend, both of whom he finds attractive. However, her friend becomes the target of his affection. Consumed by feelings of jealousy, it leads her into conniving behind her friend's back in order to maintain the upper hand. She commits herself to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, even if it means betraying one's loyalty. The Black Veil is a mesmerizing stay-up-all-night, tell-all-your-friends triumph, story of intrigue, manipulation, obsession, betrayal, human self-centeredness, and machination of fate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMB Productions
• Release date: Jan 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386897453

John Marcus Brown

John Marcus Brown is an advocate of self-development who leads by example. He uses every obstacle and challenge as an opportunity for personal growth. He acknowledges that great things can be accomplished when passion and purpose are unified. John is one who is always concerned with building positive relationships because he understands the heartaches negativity can bring. If someone needs uplifting, he pays it forward by lending a helping hand.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Lure

Miguel Watson always had a way with words when it came to interacting with people. He knew how to bring out the best in any situation. Miguel is one I’d call an optimist — he strives to see the good in everyone along with every situation. He’s the kind of guy that’s all about staying in his lane regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. He’s ambitious, intelligent, and all about seeing others become the best versions of themselves.

Miguel is coming into his senior year in college, and he aspires to make this his best year yet. He’s never been one to associate himself with drama or any of the other bullshit that goes on in the college life. He wants to be as proactive as possible coming into his last year of college, so maintaining focus is mandatory. Fortunately for him, he has a team of driven, supportive, and enthusiastic individuals that keeps him in good spirit. His circle consists of his two good friends: Javier Castello and Marvin Jones. Javier and Marvin are both juniors.

You ever knew someone who knows everyone’s business? Javier is that guy. Funny thing is, no one hardly knows his business. Javier is a cool guy, but he tends to be petty as hell. He’s known for using the information he gathers on people as leverage. Marvin, on the other hand, is the Life of the Party. Anything that pops off, you better believe Marvin will be there to be in the middle of it. He’s one of those people you can always hear before you see him. He has a notorious reputation for being an asshole. People either love him or hate him—no gray area.

Miguel enjoyed his first three years of the college experience—partying, drinking, random road trips—takin’ girls down thru there—but he knew it was time to buckle down. His crew encouraged him to keep his head up during his last semesters. Marvin constantly reminds him not to give a shit.

One could come to love Marvin’s Don’t Give a Shit attitude. He’d often tell Miguel things like, "You care too much and you think too much. Sometimes, you need to not give a fuck—you’ll live longer." But nonetheless, Miguel took Marvin’s advice and relaxed as the first semester of his senior year was about to be underway.

It’s the fall of 2017, and Miguel has a pretty chill senior fall semester ahead of him. Although a couple of the courses will be challenging, he only had four classes to deal with. On the first day of classes, Miguel knew immediately that his elective class would be the highlight of his semester. Miguel always gets to class early—one of his good habits of course. His first class starts at 9 a.m., and he’s there around 8:45 a.m.

He’s one of the first people to get to class, and he sits where he can get a good look at everyone who comes in. Other classmates come in more and more as it gets closer to 9. The professor comes in a few minutes after and she’s getting the syllabi ready for the class. Just a few minutes before 9, Miguel looks up to see two very attractive girls walk in. They both immediately look at Miguel. They smile, and he smiles right back. He enjoys the moment for what it is but doesn’t think much of it.     

The professor starts class and hands out the syllabi. The first days are usually boring. The professor goes over course guidelines, expectations, student introductions—I won’t bore you with that. However, periodically Miguel would glance over at these two girls and every time he looked over, they were looking at him. There’s an obvious attraction between them, but Miguel is keepin’ his cool. But he’s thinking to himself, "Damn—both of ‘em fine as hell."

After the class was over and the other students were packing up to head to their next classes, these two girls approach Miguel. He saw them walking towards him, and a smirk appeared on his face. The girl on the left, Angie Smith, had silky-smooth brown skin with long, curly hair and the girl on the right, Nevaeh Rivera, had beautiful, light caramel-toned skin with eyes of a goddess.

Angie and Nevaeh are both sophomores. Angie takes the lead and says, Hi, my name is Angie, and this is my friend, Nevaeh. Nevaeh greets him with a very flirtatious "Heeyyy." Miguel shakes their hands and introduces himself. The conversation goes on for a few minutes, but Miguel notices that Angie is doing most of the talking. Nothing’s wrong with that, but he was curious to hear a little more from Nevaeh. Her lack of speech created a sense of mystery, but the body language spoke loud and clear.

Miguel had Nevaeh’s undivided attention, and she was mesmerized by his presence. Angie was no doubt attractive to Miguel, but it was something about Nevaeh that had him more interested in her. But he didn’t show any favoritism in their encounter. Miguel had another class to get to so he brought the conversation to a close by telling them it was good to meet them and he enjoyed the conversation. Angie adds, It was nice talking with you, and I’m glad we had the chance to meet you. Look forward to seeing you around. He says, Most definitely. As he walked off, he could feel the lingering stare of Nevaeh.

While they were talking, Nevaeh was staring into his soul and never broke eye contact. One thing Miguel noticed about the whole conversation was that every time Angie spoke, she said we instead of I. Angie was speaking for Nevaeh like it was a collaborative effort. Miguel was thinking why Nevaeh wouldn’t speak up for herself. But remember, nonverbal communication is powerful.

He picked up on Nevaeh’s unspoken message, and he fell in line with her. He played it cool by going along with Angie’s lead of the conversation. All it took was for Miguel to look into Nevaeh’s eyes one good time and he knew what was up. Although they played it cool, Angie peeped it—girls always peep that.

Angie was talking so much because she was trying to overcompensate for the insecurities she felt from being around Nevaeh. The fact is, Angie has envied Nevaeh since they’ve known each other. Why? Because Nevaeh always gets more attention than her. There’s always a power struggle whenever Nevaeh is around. They hang out a lot together, and whenever they see and meet guys, the guys are always more attracted to Nevaeh. It eats her up. But here’s the catch: Nevaeh’s gullible. This is exactly why they became best friends because Angie successfully recruited a sucker.

It’s important for Angie to keep things in perspective at this moment because she knows Nevaeh has a thing for Miguel. She doesn’t wanna necessarily make her intentions known yet. As tempting as it is to give in, she has to hold it together.