Beneath The Skin (A College Obsession Romance)
Read Beneath The Skin (A College Obsession Romance) Online
Authors: Daryl Banner
by
Daryl Banner
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NOTE: This Kindle edition of
Beneath The Skin
ends at 50%, as it also includes
Read My Lips
with a previously unreleased bonus epilogue. Make sure to continue reading afterwards for a sneak peek at book 3 of the College Obsession Romance Series!
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Happy Reading!
xxoo
Daryl
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Beneath The Skin
A College Obsession Romance
#2
Copyright © 2016 by Daryl Banner
Published by Frozenfyre Publishing
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including but not limited to being stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, groups, businesses, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Artist : Kari Ayasha at Cover To Cover Designs
Interior Design : Daryl Banner
Beneath The Skin
(A College Obsession Romance #2)
Thank you for picking up this book and braving another college obsession romance with me. It was different stepping out of the theater and into the art school, but I had some scandalous fun with Brant & Nell nonetheless, and I hope you do too!
I’ve had a few forays into and out of the art world throughout my life, but there was one experience in particular that changed me forever, though I didn’t know it at the time. It was an art class in middle school during a very tough and awkward time in my life. I had suffered a lot of bullying and ostracizing in sixth and seventh grade, being called the 3-or-6-letter F word before I even knew what it meant, with teachers who did little to nothing about it but turn a cheek. I reacted like any oddball kid would: I decided to make fun of myself first to take all the fun out of it for my bullies. Self-deprecation became my armor, and I grew out my hair and wore only black for my entire eighth grade year.
And I also enrolled in Art.
Unlike many of my other teachers, my Art teacher did not judge me for my odd choice in clothing, or my random black lipstick, or my strange bracelets and scary boots. I created a grotesque papier-mâché winged creature with blood on its fangs and called it
Black Omen
. To that, my teacher
oohed
at my creature’s sharp jawline and patted me on the back. I created a clay sculpture of a hand, blood pouring out of its palm and cascading down a golden wristlet it wore. To that, my teacher
oohed
and complimented the details in the fingernails.
She may not have realized it then—or maybe she did—but over the course of the year, she paved for me a very,
very
important foundation of trust upon which I’d build all of my future creative relationships upon—throughout my high school career, to my college career, even to this day in my adult life. She gave me the artistic freedom to express whatever it was that lived within me without judgment or concern. She didn’t call my parents and warn them that I was a troubled child. She didn’t urge me away from the darkness I was so clearly exhibiting. She never once shied away or recoiled from my work; she fucking embraced it. And with a cheery smile. And with a warm, grandmotherly shake of encouragement on the sleeve of my Nine Inch Nails shirt and my black wrist cuffs.
Maybe I didn’t even know the lesson she was teaching me. But she taught it nonetheless, and I am forever grateful for the freedom of creativity she allowed me to have.
Never say no to those dark demons inside you. Move in and make friends with them. Pour a few cups of tea and learn from them. Let them out to play now and then and learn to love the way they are for what they are. Even if they’re winged and fanged or have blood oozing from their palms. Maybe an Art teacher somewhere will look over your shoulder and smile approvingly.
This is for all you misters and mistresses of darkness out there. You’re not just loved in this world; you’re needed.
With so much love & Happy Reading,
Daryl
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This Kindle edition of
Beneath The Skin
ends at 50%, since it also includes
Read My Lips
, the complete first book in the series – now with a previously unreleased bonus epilogue!
