Page 23 of Training Maisy

Maisy startled as she realized she had spoken out loud. “Sorry. I was talking about my ex.” Then, feeling the need to explain further, she added, “I just got out of a nasty relationship.”

Something in her voice suddenly made Carter ask in a low, menacing, and definitely protective tone, “Did he put his hands on you?”

“No, nothing like that. Eric was more the type to use his tongue to hurt someone rather than engage in a brawl with them.”

“So, he’s verbally abusive then?” Carter asked, and from his tone, Maisy gathered he didn’t really see the difference between verbally abusive and physically abusive. Basically, she got the notion from him that he would have confronted Eric had he been anywhere near him.

“Yes, and I guess the more I stayed with him, the unhappier I was. And the unhappier I was, the more I ate. The more I ate, the more he made fun of my weight and laughed at me, calling me names, and doing some other things I would rather not remember.”

“That bad, huh?” he asked, and the way he said it with just a hint of barely- contained fury aimed at Eric, and totally sympathetic to her plight, Maisy just kept talking and talking. She told him everything, about how sad and depressed she had been after the breakup and in a way how it was why she had started thinking of losing weight in the first place. Then she told him that was before, and now she had started to learn little by little to do it for herself.

He said little in between, mostly listening to her. But he did say that it was good she had stopped making Eric the reason and motivation for her weight loss because holding on to something like that could be toxic for her. Then he said if he ever saw Eric, he more than likely would punch him in the face, hard. And that made Maisy blush and feel warm all over. But not in an erotic way, more like in a warm, mushy feeling in her heart sort of way. Feelings Maisy really liked. Liked so much that she instantly sat up from her bed. Feelings she wasn’t supposed to be having for Carter.

Their relationship was supposed to be purely physical — no emotions involved. But it felt so good to talk to him. So good, in fact, that Maisy stayed on the phone with him till close to midnight. He made her laugh a lot and talk about herself a lot. Then by the time she dropped the phone, he had already made her scared. Scared because now she couldn’t deny she had feelings for him. Scared that her feelings for him would end up hurting her. But not because he would ever do anything to hurt her, but because he didn’t have those same feelings for her.

---