Going for Four: Counting on Love, Book 4 by Erin Nicholas

Cody anywhere near her. Things would be tense for all of them. It was an all or nothing situation—they either told Conner what was going on and risked both her and Cody’s relationships with him, or they did nothing and stayed only friends. There was no in-between.
    Bottom line, she trusted Conner. Cody seemed perfect, but if Conner didn’t think so…she couldn’t ignore that.
    “I know you think I’m all for following my heart and trusting fate for love,” Olivia said. “But…I don’t trust my own feelings. Not after Garrett and Jeff.”
    Amanda opened her mouth, shut it, then said, “Cody’s never…mistreated you. Has he?”
    Emma straightened. “What do you mean by ‘mistreated’?”
    Olivia looked at Isabelle, then Emma. They knew of Garrett and Jeff, her most serious boyfriends to date. Her sisters also knew that the men had turned out to be jerks and she’d ended the relationships. But they didn’t know the details.
    Olivia took a deep breath. “Garrett stole about three thousand dollars from me over the course of several months. And Jeff was—” She swallowed hard. Amanda reached out to squeeze Olivia’s hand.
    Olivia sniffed and gave her sister a smile. “Jeff was controlling and critical and cheated on me. Several times.”
    Emma’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me more.”
    She smiled. Not about her dysfunctional relationships, but about the murderous gleam in Emma’s eyes at even the hint of one of her sisters being unhappy.
    Olivia hadn’t told Emma or Isabelle about what had happened. They were both so together, so independent, so confident—she hadn’t been able to admit to them that she had been none of the above. Amanda, however, had always been incredibly insightful and watched her sisters like a mother hen. She’d noticed something was wrong, and Olivia had finally confided in her.
    “Jeff started off sweet and romantic and attentive. But over time, as I kept putting him off for sex, he started cheating. He always apologized profusely, made lots of great promises, but it kept happening.”
    “But you kept forgiving him?” Isabelle asked.
    She nodded. She wasn’t proud of it now, of course, but four years ago she’d thought she was in love with him and believed his cheating was partly her fault. “I wouldn’t have sex with him. It just didn’t feel right. I wanted to wait and I wanted a guy who thought I was worth waiting for. He said that’s why the other girls were so tempting—because he wanted me so badly.”
    “Asshole,” Isabelle breathed, her eyes wide.
    “I know that now,” Olivia said. “I know everything he said was a lie and he would have cheated anyway and I didn’t deserve it and it wasn’t my fault. But…it took me awhile to get there.”
    “He still works at the bank downtown, right?” Emma asked, starting to stand.
    “Sit down, Em,” Amanda told her. “Liv is fine now.”
    Olivia nodded. She was definitely fine. Better than fine.
    Isabelle looked equally pissed. “So Conner figured it out and helped you see what was going on?”
    Olivia took another deep breath. “No. Not for a long time. Conner and I argued about it. Especially as I kept forgiving Jeff. But eventually Conner got sick of it, and he physically removed me from Jeff’s apartment one night. He made me listen and then, when I finally decided to break things off with Jeff, Conner made sure that he took it…well.”
    Isabelle’s expression softened into a smile. “Oh, really?”
    Olivia smiled too. “I was all ready for Jeff to fight me on it, but he accepted it all very graciously. Has never contacted me since.”
    Emma’s shoulders relaxed a little at that. “Good. Though if I happen to run into him downtown sometime, I’m not responsible for my words—or actions.”
    Isabelle patted her arm comfortingly, Amanda shook her head and Olivia grinned.
    “So, what you’re saying,” Isabelle said, “is that Conner now gets to decide who you do and don’t date?”
    Olivia