~*~*~*~*: Flames within the Image: Chapter one : *~*~*~*~

" Fuck." Christina Ramsey cursed when she looked down at her bloody finger. She was working at her auto body customs shop she owned with her best friend since she was 8, Gavin Reed. She was working with some steel to change the paneling to one of her customers old style cars, she ended up cutting her middle finger but not bad enough to go to the hospital which she would have despised because she hated hospitals. She pushed her long- down her back- black hair out of her face and walked over to the small bathroom to wash off the blood.

" Whoa." Gavin said, taken back when he saw her finger bleeding out. " What happened to you?" He asked. Christina turned her light blue eyes at Gavin but she was pissed, mostly at herself for being careless, her eyes looked more gray then the sky blue they normally were.

" I cut my finger on some steel." She quickly explained, she turned off the water and wrapped her in a towel. " What are you doing here on your day off?" Christina asked.

" Megan was called into work. So instead of sitting on my ass all day I came to see if you needed a hand." Gavin explained as he leaned against the door frame to the small bathroom. Megan Ramsey was Gavin's wife of four years as well as Christina's sister. Gavin and Megan were both three years older then Christina at twenty-seven.

Gavin and Christina shared the love for cars and opened their own shop just a couple of years ago. They loved cars and getting dirty and just a down right cold beer, where Megan loved wine and hated to get her self dirty, if she stained her shirt, she had a fit for days. Gavin and Megan were the same age and had an attraction to each other, at sixteen they started dating on and off till one day they just decided to get married.

Gavin and Megan lived in a two bedroom house with a small garage apartment where Christina lived, it was small but it was enough for her considering she stayed most of her time downstairs with her sister and best friend, they were all really close, even though Megan had a different point of view to mostly everything.

Chris looked at Gavin, he was too good, she thought, for what her sister was doing to him. Chris didn't want to agree the keep her sister's dirty little secret but she didn't want to cause Gavin pain by telling him. She felt her sister should've tell him.

" Thanks for wanting to help but there's nothing going on today. I just need to finish the paneling on Mr. Connell's car." Chris explained as she walked past Gavin into her work area and pushed all her hair back with a dark blue baseball cap.

Gavin smiled and looked at her with his jade green eyes. " Ok Connell can wait, it's not like he's in a rush. I need to talk to you about Megan." He said as he sat down on one of the resting stools.

Christina felt like she had been hit with a hammer in the chest when she heard he wanted to talk about her sister, his wife. Did he know what was going on? " What's on your mind?" She managed to ask as she walked over and sat on the stool next to his. His dark brown short hair and jade green eyes, his curved lips, all his facial features always stood out to her, even at eight years old.

" I get the feeling something has been on her mind." Gavin started, pulling Christina out of her daze from staring at his face and met his eyes, was that any better?

" Like what?" Chris asked. She knew what was on her sisters mind, why she had been acting different toward Gavin. Megan couldn't bring herself to tell her husband the truth anymore then Chris could have when she found out.

" I've loved Meg for a long time and known her longer. She's been acting different, hiding something from me. She's been distant but still there like she doesn't want me to know the difference. Do you know what's been bothering her?" Gavin asked. He pleaded for an answer with his eyes, for an answer to the questions on his mind. He loved his wife and wanted her to be happy.

Damn you Megan for putting me through this, she said in her mind. " Gavin I don't know what's been going on with Megan. I'm sure it's nothing because if something was wrong you'd be the first person she'd tell." Christina softly explained in her best lying voice as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn't want to lie and be so two-faced with Gavin but Megan was her sister, her loyalty and trust came first to Megan before Gavin, the man she's been in love with for the last sixteen years, since the day they met.

" I guess you're right." Gavin softly said as he looked down to the gray concrete floors. " Well babe, I'll let you get back to work." He said as he stood from the old wooden stool and dusted off his jeans.

" Have I ever told you I hate when you call me babe?" Chris asked as she stood as well.

" Just every other hour, use to be every hour." Gavin said with a light smile as he felt the dark mood he was in start to slowly fade. He called her babe because of babe the pig, not based on looks but their way of thinking, there was something about the little pig that reminded Gavin of Christina.

" And yet you still do it." Chris pointed out. " One of these days I'll come up with something to piss you off." She said.

" You know what you do annoys me?" Gavin asked as he and Chris stood right in front of each other.

" I wasn't aware I annoy you but please do tell what it is I do?" She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. They both smiled at each other, goofy smiles, childish games they still played.

" When you cover your hair up with these ugly ass caps." Gavin simply explained as he pulled the baseball cap off her head and tossed it to the other side of the room.

" Hey!" Christina yelled. " I like my caps, thank you and they help keep my hair out of my face. So stop tossing my shit across the room." She curtly said.

" Yeah, yeah. One day while you're asleep I'm going to burn all your hats." Gavin said. " I'm going to go now and let you get back to work." He said as he turned to leave.

" Oh I don't think so." Chris said as she grabbed his arm. " You wasted valuable working time that I can't get back. You will be helping me finish this now." She explained as she let him go. Touching Gavin only reminded Chris of what she could never have, him.

Gavin smiled as he slightly shook his head, he didn't mind helping her, he knew she needed it when he decided to leave the house. But Christina would never ask for help, she'd find another way to get you to help her.

" Alright, Babe. Let's get to work."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabelle