Out-and-regretting-it comprehensive attendee Jayden Phillips turns his cast-iron plans for life upside-down by falling in love with private-school violinist Darren Peace, a sardonic boy with the craziest hair Jayden's ever seen.<br><br>But all is not what it seems, and Jayden's bullying problem becomes meaningless when he is confronted with what the music does to Darren. How do you stop a dangerous depression rooted in the same thing that makes someone what they are? Dark moods, blank apathy, and the undertow of self-loathing all simmer beneath Darren's dry and beautiful veneer, and Jayden feels powerless to stop them.<br><br>Then a mugging gone wrong takes the music forcibly away, and Jayden is finally given the chance to change Darren's life -- and, quite literally, his mind.

Vivaldi in the Dark

A space for the band had been set up, but they hadn’t started. The cafe was three-quarters full, mostly with clusters of friends, but the odd table occupied by a couple. Straight couples.


“Relax,” Darren said, and then suddenly his fingers were sliding between Jayden’s. His hand was cool from the late October evening, and his palm dwarfed Jayden’s by a long way, but Jayden clutched back all the same. Darren had calluses, and they scraped lightly against Jayden’s skin. He couldn’t help but imagine how that would feel when…if…


He zoned out so hard that Darren ordered for him and pulled him to a spare table against one wall by that captured hand. “Sit,” Darren said and grinned when Jayden stammered an apology. “No worries. You’re cute when you get flustered.”


Jayden blushed again. Hard. “I, um…”


Chapter 26