This idea had me bursting at the seams today at physio, I had to post this. This chapter isn't really a chapter, it's just the prologue to give insight on how the main characters of my story met. I own my boys (Emmy, Jordan, Brent, and Santi) but nothing/nobody else. As usual, reviews kick my imagination into hyper drive so... if you don't mind. Once again: this is the PROLOGUE, which means this is about six months before the next chapter (which is really the first). Enjoy (or don't if you don't want to) ~Callum!~

"Emmy, what the hell are you doing here?" a gruff voice hissed in my ear. I rolled my eyes and took another sip of the beer that Jordan- the bartender and one of my best friends- had placed in front of me.

"I wanted to relax, Santi, is that a problem?" I heard an aggravated sigh and a hand was suddenly wrapped around my wrist, leading me gently until the salty beach air stung at my nose and the noise of the club had long since faded from my ears. "What do you want from me, Santi? I can't live in the shadows my whole life, okay?"

"You shouldn't be in there. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I know how to handle myself, Santi," I growled, turning away from him and nearly smacking into the object in front of me, a tree from the rough and slightly rounded surface.

"You could get raped or something, amigito. I don't want that for you." I sighed and allowed Santi to turn me back to face him.

"I'm not stupid," I huffed, sitting heavily on the sand beneath my feet. "Besides, Jordan would have taken care of me, you know that." I paused and swallowed a scream when I heard a yell followed by a dull thud. "Santi, are you okay? Santiago?"

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Speed frowned down at the body before him as he snapped a picture. The victim was about five-ten with a swimmer's build, wearing a tight red muscle shirt and semi-loose black jeans. He had messy, beach blond hair over green eyes that were frozen open in shock. "Is there an ID on him, Alexx?" Alexx nodded sadly.

"His name is Santiago Berùz. Poor guy was only twenty-six. You are much too young for this, sweetie. There's a witness over there who says he's co-owner of a club just down the street called Fly. There's a single gunshot to the throat, but the guy swears he never heard a gun fire." Speed frowned and turned to see a man who had a bright purple fauxhawk, dark sunglasses, a blue button-down, and jeans that looked identical to Santiago's standing just beyond the crime scene tape. A set of dog tags hung around his neck and glinted brightly in the morning sun.

"That him?"

"Mm-hm." Speed set his kit down and made his way over to where the witness was standing.

"Hey." The purple-haired man jumped visibly, obviously not realizing Speed had been standing in front of him. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

"Um, yeah, a little. I'm Emilio- Emmy- Berùz." Emilio stuck his hand out and Speed shook it.

"Tim Speedle. Would you mind telling me what went down here last night?" He sighed deeply, already getting tired of telling the story.

"I was at Fly earlier and Santi didn't want me there. He's my little brother and he worries about me a lot." Emmy bit his lip lightly and slid off his glasses, placing them into his pocket. Speed was surprised at the intensity of Emmy's eyes. They were green, like Santi's, but they were piercing and made Speed feel like he was under a microscope. What was most surprising, however, was that his eyes weren't the pools of green that Santi's were, but they were clouded. Emilio Berùz was blind. "He doesn't like me going there without him, Jordan, or Brent there to watch over me. Anyway, he found me there and pulled me out here. We were talking and all of a sudden he yelled. He wouldn't answer me, so I called for help. That's pretty much it."

"So you didn't hear a gunshot?" Emmy sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I get that Santi was shot, but I didn't hear it. Maybe they used a silencer or something, I don't know." Speed shrugged and went back to work. He constantly glanced over at Emilio, for some reason feeling oddly protective of him.

"I'm going to need you to come down to the station so we can take your statement," Speed said when he finished processing the scene. "Come with me." He started to walk away but Emmy stayed rooted to the spot he hadn't moved from the whole time.

"I, um… I don't have Ranger with me. I'll walk right into something. Actually," he added as an afterthought, "I generally run into some things anyway, but Ranger won't let me do any serious damage to myself." Speed guessed that Ranger was his Seeing Eye dog. He grasped Emmy's hand and, ignoring the warm tingling sensation, led him to the hummer. When they got to the crime lab, he grabbed Emmy's hand again to lead him inside. Neither let go the entire time the statement was being taken.

"You're going to want to talk to Jordan and Brent, aren't you?" Emmy asked quietly, hoping beyond hope that the answer was no. Jordan had been with Santi since they were both fourteen and Brent was like an overprotective older brother. It would kill Brent to know that he couldn't always protect Santi, and Jordan... Jordan would just shut down. Speed gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and spoke reluctantly.

"Unfortunately, we have to. We need to know who would want to hurt your brother and Jordan could be able to tell us just that."