Her Kind of Man (5 page)

C
an I just…let me call my parents first and then we'll talk?” Allina asked.

“Of course.” Without a word, he got up and left the room. Moments later, he returned with his cell phone. He placed the phone in her outstretched hand and headed toward the door.

“Wait,” she called, stopping him in his tracks. He turned slowly. “Will you stay with me while I make the call?”

Kent nodded. “Okay.”

He took a seat next to her on the couch as she dialed her father's cell.

“Hello?”

Tears filled her eyes at the sound of her mother's voice. “Mom?”

A soft gasp echoed in her ear. “Allina?” she cried. “Thank God! I've been so worried about you. Where are you?”

Allina let her head fall against the back of the couch before she answered. “I'm okay. I'm sorry. I meant to call you right away.”

“Babe, where are you?” Sharon asked again. “Your father said he gave you money and told you to call. I called Sydney and she said she didn't know where you were, I was so…” Sharon paused before she continued. Allina could picture her mother holding her palm to her chest, like she'd done so many times before when she was relieved. “I thought something happened to you. Don't ever scare me like that again. I don't think I could take it.”

“I'm in Michigan, Mom. But I'm not with Syd. I'm over at Kent's house.” Allina rocked back and forth in her seat. “I just wanted to let you know that I'm safe. Where's Dad?”

Sharon screamed her father's name. “He's coming, sweetie. Do you need anything?”

“You've done enough for me. Thank you so much for the card and the gift. I love you so much. But I need to make some decisions—for me.”

“That Isaac…” her mother grumbled. “Your father told me what happened. I'm so sorry, baby. Your father has been inundated with calls all day from that family. Right now, Isaac is playing the distraught, inconsolable groom. Hold on, here's your father.”

“Allina?” Her father's baritone voice soothed her nerves. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, Daddy. I'm safe. What happened once Isaac realized I was gone?”

“He barked a bunch of orders, demanded we tell him where you were. But your mother put on a great performance. Acted like she was just as surprised as he was when you disappeared without so much as a ‘Good-bye, asshole.'”

Allina gasped. “Daddy?”

“What?” he said innocently. “Anyway, I put an end to your mother's charade when Isaac showed up here a little while ago begging us to report you missing. I told him to go to hell.”

It wasn't funny, but Allina couldn't help but snicker. Judge Parker had a potty mouth. It was the one thing that drove her mother crazy.

“I've been checking into some things, trying to find the mystery woman,” Judge continued. “But I haven't come up with anything and no one at the church is really talking.”

“Mom told me you've been getting calls from his family?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just got off the phone with the bishop. He told me to contact them as soon as I heard from you. Are you staying with Syd?”

Allina peered up at Kent. He had been sitting quietly next to her, offering silent strength. “No. I'm at Kent's house.”

There was a short pause before her father said, “Good. Tell Kent to keep his eyes and ears open. I'm not sure how Isaac is going to play this right now. I've had someone tailing him since he left the church. Hopefully he'll just let it go, but if he doesn't…well, I'm glad you're protected.”

“Thank you. I'll call you when I get a new cell phone. Tell Mom I love her and we'll talk soon.”

Allina hung up. It was torture putting them through this. She prayed her father was right and Isaac was just issuing idle threats to keep her in line. At least now her parents knew she was safe and not lying dead in the Cuyahoga River.

She brushed her palms together. “That was hard,” she told Kent.

“I bet,” he agreed, holding her hand between his. “But it's done. Now you can concentrate on you.”

I'll never let you go
.

Allina shuddered as Isaac's promise replayed in her head. She pulled away from Kent to put some distance between them.

I will hurt you
.

After a few moments of silence, Kent stroked his low-cut beard. “Allina, I need you to be honest with me. You don't want me to tell Syd or anyone else that you're here, okay. I get it. But something isn't adding up. The only thing that makes sense is if Isaac really has something that can hurt you and your parents.”

Allina tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It's not like that.” She tugged at her earlobe. She understood why Kent was concerned. There was so much she hadn't told him about her past. “I just need some time, a day or two to sort myself out. That's all.”

She just wanted to relax, knowing that she was in good hands. That's why she'd ended up on his doorstep. Sydney was her best friend, her sister, but Isaac would call her first. Then he would call Cali. He wouldn't know to call Kent, though.

Early on in her relationship with Isaac, she'd made the decision to not share how much Kent meant to her. It would only cause a problem, she'd thought at the time. Yes, Isaac knew that Kent existed, but she'd downplayed their friendship, made it seem like they just hung out together because of Syd and Cali. It was a blatant lie that she'd regretted from the moment she'd told it. Not only because she wasn't a liar, but because Kent was so much more than a casual acquaintance.

He was everything.

It was the reason their argument had stuck with her, why she'd been so stressed in the days leading up to the wedding. His opinion mattered to her. It always did.

Staring down at her toes, she wished she could go back and do everything over. She felt guilty, like she'd betrayed her friendship with Kent by not acknowledging him. Especially when he'd always made sure every woman he dated knew about her and how important their friendship was to him. He'd once told her that any woman who wanted to be with him would know that Allina was part of the package.

“Okay,” Kent said, his voice low. “You've had a rough day, and I can understand if you want to relax. But I want to help you. I wish you'd let me.”

You're dead
.

Allina squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn't one to let down her guard easily. When she met Syd her freshman year in college, they'd started a tentative friendship because they were roommates. It wasn't until Sydney was brutally attacked one night that Allina and Syd had bonded. And it wasn't because Allina had felt sorry for her. Unfortunately, Allina felt Syd's pain because she'd felt it herself. Only her attacker hadn't been a teaching assistant with control issues; hers had been her aunt. Aunt Laura, her father's younger sister, had molested Allina from the age of ten until her fourteenth birthday.

It had started one night while her parents were gone at a community event. Allina's father was well-respected in their hometown of Akron, Ohio. He was a philanthropist, a person who gave back to those less fortunate. Because of that, her parents were always going to balls, fund-raisers, and other elite events in the city. Her aunt had always been charged with babysitting Allina.

The first touch, the first incident, had been a simple inappropriate touch. Things escalated as time went on, and on her thirteenth birthday, Aunt Laura raped her. Allina didn't tell because her aunt had promised her that her parents would be ruined if she did. Allina believed it. After all, her parents were so high profile that a scandal would surely devastate their reputations. So she'd kept quiet.

Each time, each night, her aunt took a piece of Allina with her when she left, and soon Allina was finding other ways to cope. She started sneaking into her parents' liquor cabinet, drinking herself numb just to get through the evenings. She retreated to her room, rarely coming out. Her school work suffered and she lost so much weight her mother dragged her to countless doctor appointments.

Isaac knew about that part of her past. Aside from Syd, he was the only one who did. After he'd proposed, she'd opened up to him about it. He'd assured her that her secrets were safe with him, that she could trust him. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. Unfortunately, Isaac's threat had brought up so many more memories, put her right back in that room with her aunt. That same fear and desperation she'd felt all those years ago had taken her over from the moment he'd grabbed her in that hallway.

She pressed a hand to her throat, warred with herself over telling Kent some things or everything. As much as she trusted Kent, she didn't know if she could open herself up like that to him yet. At the same time, she knew he would keep her confidence.

“The woman in the church? She was scared,” Allina admitted. “She called him evil. At first I didn't understand why, but now I do. I believed him when he said he would hurt me. He said he'd kill me. His words…they took me back to a time in my life I'd rather forget, when I…” Allina wanted to tell him, knew she'd feel better if she could just say the words. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.

He rolled his shoulders. “Lina, you don't have to worry about him hurting you. If he even tries to get to you, I'll fuck him up.”

She snickered. There was no doubt in her mind Kent could take Isaac in a fight. Even though Kent hadn't played football in years, he was still built like an active player. He ran every morning and trained in the gym at least three times a week.

“I know,” she told Kent. “I just…it got to me. Now I can't stop thinking about how I almost…Why didn't I see it?” Allina had been careful all her life. She didn't date just anybody, didn't open her house to her friends or introduce her parents to random men. Rubbing her hands on her thighs, she choked back a sob. “I feel like an idiot.”

“You thought you were in love,” he said simply. She didn't miss the way he rolled his eyes.

Their gazes met, held for a second, before she dropped her head. “I wanted to be.”

Kent patted her on her knee. “We all do to some extent. Shit, both of your friends found love, we're getting older…” While he talked, she couldn't take her eyes off his hand on her knee, mesmerized by the contrast of his dark skin against her pale, light skin. “Don't beat yourself up for putting your faith in the wrong man.”

Peering up at him, she nodded. “He said he'd never let me go. I'd be a fool to think that he'll give up because I left him at the altar.”

He studied her. “Is there something else you want to tell me?” he asked.

Her heart raced and her lips parted. “What?”

“I mean, you're here with me.” He tilted his head and paused. “You know he won't come here looking for you. But you're guarded, like you're on the verge of saying something, but then you stop yourself. You don't have to be scared. If he comes here, I have something for him.”

Unable to look him in the eyes, she admitted, “I
am
scared. But it's not because he has something over me or my parents.” She swallowed hard, fiddled with the edge of the blanket. “I never told you this, but when I was a kid…I was molested by a family member. My aunt Laura,” she croaked.

His eyes were on her. She could feel them even though she wasn't looking directly at him.

“She did it for years, threatened me every day to keep it a secret,” she continued. “Told me she'd hurt me and destroy my father; the same thing Isaac said. I told him about it because I thought it was the right thing to do. He was supposed to be my husband. Then, he used the same tactics on me today; used what I'd told him in confidence to intimidate me. It was like he didn't even care.”

“Allina?” Kent wiped her eyes with a tissue.

She hadn't realized she was crying. “I'm sorry,” she breathed. “Lost myself in my thoughts.”

“You're good,” he assured her, sadness clouding his features. “I'm sorry that happened to you. I can't even imagine carrying something like that. Why didn't you ever tell me? I mean, we've talked about some serious things. I'm not saying you had to, but…”

Allina watched as he looked away for a second. Telling him about her past was something she'd wanted to do from the moment he'd opened up to her about his all those years ago. In fact, she'd tried on many occasions. But the shame she'd always felt every time she thought about it kept her from saying anything. She was damaged goods, unstable and full of baggage—the one thing he'd told her he wanted to avoid at all costs.

“I just didn't know how to tell you,” she answered. “Syd was the only person I told, until Isaac.”

Allina recalled sharing this part of the story with Syd years ago. The difference in her friend's reaction was in stark contrast to Kent's. Not that she'd expected him to gasp and tear up like Syd did. One good thing about Kent was his ability to remain calm. She'd only ever seen him lose his cool in a few situations. In this instance, she was glad that he was who he was. Otherwise, she would crumble.

Kent took her hand and brushed his thumb across her knuckles. “I'm sure it helped to talk about it.”

Nodding, she leaned in closer to him, needing the comfort and warmth he provided. “It did.”

“Allina, none of this is your fault. It's nothing to be ashamed of. What your aunt did to you doesn't make you a bad person.”

“But I did things…” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “It was pretty bad. Remember when I told you I used to drink, but I stopped?”

“Yes,” he said.

“I almost killed myself.” Her lips trembled as she remembered the disappointment in her parents' eyes. She'd taken a fifth of vodka straight and ended up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. “I ran into a neighbor's garage, caused thousands of dollars of damage. My father used his position as a judge to sweep it right under the rug.” It hadn't been the first or last time her father would have to cover up a crime for their family.