Faults (Primrose Hill #1)

Chapter 1

Addison

They say that bad things happen in threes. I just didn’t think my life would come crashing down over the course of a month, but here we were.

“I think this is the push you’ve always needed to do what you’ve always wanted to do with your life, plus Noah sucked,” my best friend, Harper, said as she helped tape the final box that contained my entire life here on the East Coast.

“Wow, tell me how you really feel. Breaking up with my fiancé, losing my job, and suffering a riding injury is really what I needed,” I said, the sarcasm obvious as I rolled my eyes.

Harper laughed and stood, looking around my apartment, and then sighed. “I’m going to miss you. We’ve had some good times in this apartment.”

I leaned my head on Harper’s shoulder. “I’m going to miss you more. Thanks for helping me finish packing. The movers will be here in the morning, and then I’m back home to Texas!”

Harper put her arm around me. “I am so happy for your next chapter. It’s time for you to be happy again. I’ll fly down to visit as soon as I can.”

I smiled and nodded. “Good, I can’t wait. Now let’s go grab some dinner. I’m starving!” As we headed out of my apartment, I took a moment to look at the empty space, the memories of the last ten years flashing through my mind.

I left my home in Primrose Hill, Texas, at eighteen to attend Boston University for my undergraduate degree, as well as ride and train with one of the top hunter/jumper trainers in the country, Eli Thompson.

I had a plan. I was going to get my degree in business, become a top-ranked rider in both the hunter and jumper world, and eventually open and run my own horse training facility back home in Primrose Hill.

After ten years in Boston, I checked off two of the three items on my list. I earned my degree in business and was a nationally top-ranked hunter/jumper rider.

I worked closely with Eli, not only as my trainer but also to learn everything there was to know to run a successful equine operation. Everything was lining up for me.

I met my now ex-fiancé, Noah Clark, in one of my business classes at BU.

He came from money, and he had an arrogance about him that I should have seen as a red flag from the beginning, but instead chose to ignore.

He was relentless in pursuing me, and I eventually gave in.

Noah Clark was handsome and oozed charm, but I got to know a softer side to him.

We had a lot of fun together, and our relationship developed quickly.

We didn’t have a ton in common, and part of me knew I was tolerating the differences because I was lonely being almost two thousand miles away from my family.

I chose to ignore that part because I needed him, so he became my world.

I became close to his parents and his sister, spending most weekends at their massive estate in Connecticut.

We were engaged about six months ago with plans to get married in the spring.

I had been working in finance for his family’s real estate development company for the past six years at their insistence.

It wasn’t where I thought I would be, but I made enough money to continue taking care of my horse, compete, and even establish a solid savings account.

The work experience would be beneficial, and I could save money toward my ultimate goal of one day owning and operating my own horse training facility.

Plus, I had a loving fiancé. Things were good.

Sometimes our lives don’t always play out how we thought, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

At least that was what I told myself…until the last month hit and my life unraveled in a way I didn’t see coming or was prepared for.

Noah had begun to pull away. He wasn’t staying at my apartment as often.

We hadn’t had sex in a couple of months, but I had been traveling for horse shows quite a bit.

We decided not to move in together until we were married, which I thought was odd, given our eight-year relationship.

Still, he insisted that it was tradition in his family, so I respected his wishes.

Work was also crazy busy, so I chalked it up to that. We were both overworked and tired.

On a random Thursday, he accidentally left his phone in the car with me when we were running by the store to grab a couple of things for dinner.

As he was inside, a text came through his phone from his friend Trent.

I’d never met Trent, but he was a childhood friend of Noah’s who now lived in California.

I’d spoken to him once on the phone a couple of months ago when he and Noah were planning a guys’ weekend on the Cape.

Over the last several months, I had noticed they seemed to be texting and calling each other more frequently.

Another text came through, and then another.

Curious if it was something urgent, and just being the nosy person I was, I clicked on the text for Siri to read it, not knowing that my life was about to change from my inquisitive nature.

Trent: I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.

Okay, that was odd. Noah never mentioned him coming into town.

Trent: All I can think about is last night when you made me come over and over.

Okay, maybe Trent meant to send that to someone else.

Trent: Do you think Addison has any idea? Sometimes I feel bad when I run into her at work.

What. The. Fuck. My heart was racing. Noah was cheating on me, and evidently with someone from work no less.

I looked up to see him walking back to the car with his usual grin on his face. He got in the car, and his grin quickly vanished when he turned to me and saw my face.

“Babe, what’s wrong? You look like someone kicked your dog.” He chuckled.

I took a deep breath to stop myself from punching him in the face right there.

“Noah, who is Trent again?”

“I already told you, he is one of my buddies from way back when, but he’s out in Cali now.”

I took another deep breath. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Who is Trent?”

He searched my face, confused, until another text came through from “Trent.” I quickly clicked on it for Siri to read before he had any idea what was happening. Siri outed him quickly in front of me.

Trent: Babe, do you think you could tell Addison that you are going out of town to see a friend or something so we can run off to the Cape for a long weekend again?

The color quickly drained from Noah’s face, and I got out of the car immediately. He ran after me as I started walking away.

“Babe! Wait! Where are you going? Let me explain!”

I turned around and shoved my finger hard into his chest. “Fuck you, Noah! How could you? We’ve been together for eight years! We are fucking engaged! I knew something seemed off.”

I took my ring off and threw it at his head. He quickly ran after it because it was probably worth more than my car, and let’s be honest, he probably cared more about the ring than me.

After he grabbed the ring, he caught up to me and spun me around by my shoulders. “Will you let me explain, please?”

I looked at his pleading gaze. “Sure, go for it. Let’s hear this explanation of why you are cheating on me with someone from the office.”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen, but the last five months or so, you have been gone a lot competing with your horse, and if you’re not competing, you are at the barn training, and if you’re not training, you are working.

I felt ignored, but then Jessica started giving me attention, and before I knew it, things happened.

I didn’t plan for this.” He looked down at the ground.

“Are you serious right now? You are blaming me? Instead of talking to me and telling me how you feel, you thought it would be better just to go fuck someone else instead?” I said, fuming.

I couldn’t believe this guy. He knew my goals and my dreams—he claimed he supported them!

I should have known that it was all just lip service, considering he had never been to one of my shows in the eight years we’d been together, let alone never even coming to the barn with me.

He also said on more than one occasion that horses were a hobby, not a career.

“What’s my horse’s name?” I crossed my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes in his direction. If looks could kill, I’d have set his ass on fire.

He looked at me, confused. “What? What are you talking about?”

“What is my horse’s name, Noah?”

He just blinked at me, his words stuttering. “Uh…uh…um.”

I spun back around on my heel and headed toward the T, the public transit system in Boston, and yelled over my shoulder, “His name is Cash, you asshat. I would think you would remember, considering it’s one of your favorite things. Go fuck yourself. We are done.”

After the anger dissipated, I cried myself to sleep that night.

I woke up the next morning with the sobering realization that my eight-year relationship with the man I thought I was going to marry was over, and now I had to drag myself out of bed and go to work at his family’s company.

And don’t forget the fact that the girl he cheated on me with also worked there.

Lucky me. Despite my puffy eyes from crying all night, I managed to make myself look presentable for work.

As I settled into my desk for the morning, I was just about to open my emails when my desk phone started to ring.

My heart rate picked up the minute I read the caller ID. It was Lisa from HR.

“Hey, Lisa, good morning. What can I do for you?” I tried to keep my tone upbeat.

“Good morning, Addison. Can you please come to my office?” Lisa said in a rather serious tone, one I wasn’t expecting.

“Sure thing. I’ll be right over.”

I hung up the phone and quickly headed to Lisa’s office, my heart beating out of my chest. Lisa never called me. What could this be about?

I walked into Lisa’s office, and she asked me to close the door behind me. I did as she said and sat down across from her.