“I just blamed it on the stress he was under. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was a cheater. Hell, everyone at the school knew that. But I had always thought he had an arrangement with his wife. They pretty much had their own lives. Maybe having someone in their house was a little too much.”
She drew in a breath. “Things went downhill fast. He started showing up at places I was at.”
“Like where?” A cold chill filled his stomach.
“First, it was really casual. Running into each other at the mall or at the theater. Then it was all the time. He would just show up at my house with no notice. Especially the nights that Mike was working.”
“What did Mike do about it?” he asked.
She looked at him, a frown turning her lips down. “What do you mean?”
“Mike. You were living with him, in a serious relationship, so what did he do?”
She made a face. “He accused me of cheating on him and moved out. I learned later that Greg had pretty much insinuated that he and I were sleeping together.”
Still, in Kai’s mind, Mike should have known better. More than likely there had been signs of the harassment and the asshole had just ignored them. How a man could think Jocelyn would cheat was beyond him.
“Then it got worse. Greg just became very scary. So I quit. It wasn’t something I was used to doing, but I couldn’t take it anymore. Greg did everything he could to make it impossible to get another job. He put out the word that I was horrible. That when my work had started to fail, he had fired me. Which wasn’t true, but he had a little more of a reputation than I did, and why would he lie?”
“Because he’s a disgusting bastard.”
She smiled at him. “The exact same words Chris used. The only kind of job I could get was at a grocery bakery. I figured I would move as soon as my lease was up and maybe by then Greg would get over the fact that I had turned him down. But it didn’t work out that way.”
She hesitated and a tremor moved through her as if she were reliving the terror.
“You don’t have to tell me.” He had wanted to know, but it was physically hurting him to hear the story. He could detect the pain in her voice, the shame she was still dealing with, and he felt useless. There was nothing he could do to stop the memories from hurting her.
She looked up at him, determination in her gaze. “No. I think I do.”
He nodded but said nothing else.
“He found me one night at work. I had stayed late to finish up and one of the idiot stock boys let him back to see me. He tried to get me to come back to the restaurant. He offered insane things. Twice the amount he was paying me before I left. A car. Anything. Then he tried to get me to admit to being in love with him. Talk about delusional, it was really crazy. I ordered him out of my kitchen and he lost it.”
She closed her eyes and he squeezed her hands. “The same stock boy who had opened the door for him dragged him off me. I have never seen anyone that crazy.” She opened her eyes and he saw the haunted memories there, simmering with the unshed tears. “I mean, I grew up in New Orleans. There are all kinds of crazy there. But nothing like this. I had two broken ribs, a concussion, and being that I was underweight and barely holding on, I had a bit of a breakdown.”
He wanted to tell her that a lesser woman would have fallen apart long before that, but he could see in her expression that she would never believe him. Instead, he gently pulled her out of the chair.
“What?”
He motioned to the bedroom. “Come on.”
Jocelyn followed Kai back to her bedroom, her nerves shot, emotionally wrung out. He closed the door behind her and led her to the bed. She hadn’t been sure how he would take her story. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t talked about it with anyone, her brothers, her sisters, her mother. No one other than Dr. Sawyer and the police. She didn’t want to hear their questions. She knew her brothers especially were mad that she didn’t tell them when it was going on. Worse, she knew she should have. She should have gone somewhere to report it. Even if no one believed her, she should have done it. The problem had been her pride. She’d worried what people would think of her. But here was Kai, and he had been willing to listen and not judge.
When Chris had shown up in Atlanta, the first thing he’d asked was why she didn’t call him. Why had she let it get so bad? It was as if he blamed her. And she knew without a doubt, he didn’t. It was a reaction to the fear he had felt, but it had damaged something in her at the time. She had been so tired, so sick, so not wanting to live.
Kai stopped by the bed and turned her to face him. He smiled at her gently, lovingly, and she felt it all the way to her toes. How could a man be so gentle and sexy all at once? He undid the belt to her robe and slowly parted the fabric.