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Here's the thing I like to remember: nobody is the villain in their own heads. Nobody.
I like well-rounded, human characters. But this does not mean a character must have redeeming qualities. Some people have no redeeming qualities, and there's nothing wrong with portraying a character just this way. Some people are all bad, in every possible way. Whether they think themselves the villain or not, whether some childhood trauma set it off or not, they're simply bad.
Both of these things, yes. I tend to really hate obvious Bad Guys With Redeeming Qualities. "Gee, sorry I'm a wifebeater, but my dad never told me he loved me." Oh god no. No. That's not well-rounded to me. That's tacking on something to try to make us feel bad for the Bad Guy. No! He's a bad guy! But if you make me identify with the Bad Guy, then you've got me.
Well, after reading what you guys have said and thinking a little about the character, I've realized that, while he's pretty selfish and perverse, his relationship with the mother did wonders for her. When her husband died, her relationship with her daughter (the MC) went majorly downhill, meaning that she had to go through the mourning process without the support of the living person closest to her. When she started going out with Ken (the asshole in question), she finally had someone to talk to again. Even though he had ulterior motives for being with her, that doesn't change the positive effect he has had in her life, and she will always have the strength that that gave her.
I think this sounds exactly like your angle. I've definitely dated some epic assholes in my life, and I can look back and see what those assholes gave me that I wanted at the time. So I don't think you have to necessarily tell all of this in your POV scenes with the MC, but you can drop little hints.