The Hero in Her Story

The Hero in Her Story a novel by Kelsey Kingsley Copyright © 2023 by Kelsey Kingsley All rights reserved. Visit my website at http://kelseykingsley.com Cover Designer: Murphy Rae Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Table of Contents Title. 1 DEDICATION 5 A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR.. 5 PROLOGUE. 6 CHAPTER ONE. 11 CHAPTER TWO.. 17 CHAPTER THREE. 23 CHAPTER FOUR.. 29 CHAPTER FIVE. 34 CHAPTER SIX. 39 CHAPTER SEVEN.. 50 CHAPTER EIGHT. 60 CHAPTER NINE. 67 CHAPTER TEN.. 74 CHAPTER ELEVEN.. 85 CHAPTER TWELVE. 92 CHAPTER THIRTEEN.. 105 CHAPTER FOURTEEN.. 112 CHAPTER FIFTEEN.. 121 CHAPTER SIXTEEN.. 128 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.. 135 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.. 142 CHAPTER NINETEEN.. 148 CHAPTER TWENTY. 152 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. 158 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.. 162 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE. 165 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.. 176 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. 182 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. 193 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.. 202 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT. 207 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE. 218 CHAPTER THIRTY. 227 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE. 236 CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.. 246 CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE. 254 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR.. 260 CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE. 266 CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX. 272 CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN.. 278 CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT. 285 EPILOGUE. 291 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 301 About the Author 302 Books by Kelsey Kingsley. 303 To Kelly— You keep asking when I’m going to dedicate a book to you. Here you go. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR Dear Reader, Writing a book is a funny thing. It begins as this tiny nugget of an idea. Most times, those nuggets fizzle out and disintegrate before they can become anything substantial. But every now and then, that tiny, little, miniscule nugget grows. It rolls around for a while—sometimes days, weeks, even years—collecting other nuggets along the way that fit just right. It manifests, and it festers, until it’s too big to fit into the brain holding it. It has to go somewhere, so into a Word document it goes. I know. It kinda blows my mind too. But what always strikes me as a funnier, more mind-blowing thing is the side characters within that initial book. Because that initial nugget began with its own set of people. People the author already knew were going to be a “thing.” They’re developed; they’ve already become real within that author’s mind. But those side characters, man … You never really know which ones are gonna bite and hold on for dear sweet life, creating their own nuggets and rolling around, until you finally let them tell their story. When I wrote The Girl in the Front Row, I didn’t think Connor and Tarryn would get a story. I didn’t think they’d need it, to be honest. But then, the more I wrote that story, the more theirs built in my head, and that little nugget wouldn’t stop growing, until I knew they weren’t going to stop their bickering and bantering until I gave Tarryn the hero she deserved. So, this is their story, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Kelsey Listen to the Spotify playlist while you read: http://bit.ly/3YsDHV0 PROLOGUE Stacey shifted on my lap, grinding her ass against my dick in a way that said she wanted something from me. She didn't care that Matt was sitting next to us on the porch, blowing his cigarette smoke through the corner of his mouth, like that alone would keep the shit from lingering in the air and staining Mom's couch cushions with the stench. And Stacey definitely didn't care that my little sister was standing over there, leaning against a post and applying another coat of lip gloss. No, Stacey's attention span started at my dick and ended at sex, and that was cool with me 'cause, at eighteen, the feeling was undoubtedly mutual. But I gotta admit, she was making it hard—pun definitely intended—to concentrate on the conversation. “Yeah, fuck college, man,” Matt muttered, slipping the cigarette between his lips and sucking at its end like his life depended on it. “What the hell would I even do there anyway?” Dude had started smoking when he was fourteen to impress some high school chick, and he was never able to kick the habit. Idiot. “Yeah, my parents don't wanna pay a ton of money for me to party,” I replied, shrugging, while Stacey disguised a wiggle of her ass with a cough. “Hey,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “I thought you weren't going to college to stay with me.” “It's one reason, sure,” I told her, but—and this was probably a dickish thing to say—she had made that assumption without any help from me. Even at eighteen, I knew there was nothing permanent about my relationship with Stacey. I had fun with her, and we were having a lot of it, but I didn't love her, and she sure as hell didn't love me. You didn't cheat on a guy three times if you were in love with him. Just saying. Looking back, maybe I shouldn't have forgiven her so easily. But like I’d said, I didn't love her, and we were having fun. Plus, the summer was coming to an end. She was starting school at Suffolk Community College, and I was heading up to Connecticut to help a couple of buddies move into their new apartment. We both knew there weren't many pages left in the story of Connor and Stacey, so if she wanted to believe I wasn't seeking further education for her benefit, then that was cool. Especially when she had an ass like that. I was about to ask if she wanted to get the hell off my parents' porch and into my