Durante

When I curled up in the seat, Evan reached over and took the phone from me. "Jennifer?" he spoke into the phone. "Yeah, sorry, I think it's kind of catching up to her. ... Of course, yeah. ... No, I wouldn't do that! I'm just doing exactly what she asked! I was almost to the hospital before she told me she didn't want to go, I swear! ... I know your opinion, Jennifer, but... ... Alright. ... 11418 E 76th Street, apartment 12. It's on the second floor, almost in the middle. ... will, I promise. ... Yes, of course! ... Yeah. Hey! Before you go! Could you bring her blanket and pillow too? I only have one of each and I want her to have her comfort things too. ... Thanks, Jennifer. ... I know you have, I'm sorry, I have a sort of issue with nicknames and pet names. If you prefer I could call you Miss Dobbs? ... Alright. I'll see you soon. ... I will," he promised, then hung up. "Jennifer said to tell you she'll be here as quickly as she can," he told me, pulling into a parking lot. "And that she loves you and she'll take care of everything. Do you think... do you think she's going to want to stay at my place too?" he asked worriedly. "I only have the one couch?"

"I'll tell her she can't," I promised, looking up at the old apartment building. "I need her to be at the dorms in case he comes asking to tell him she hasn't seen me. If she's not there, he's going to find out where she is."

"Yeah, her bright yellow volkswagen bug is kind of hard to miss," he half chuckled awkwardly as he killed the engine. Hurrying around, he opened my door and offered a hand to help me out.

I took it, I was feeling shaky enough that I knew I would need it. I was going to throw up any second.

He led me in and up the stairs, then let me into a little studio apartment. I hardly looked around at all as he led me to the little sofa couch, weaving around stacks of books and boxes, like he hadn't actually moved in yet.

Settling me on the couch, he sat next to me and kept hold of my hand as he looked me over worriedly. "Do you need anything?" he asked me, putting his free hand over the top of my hand he was already holding.

"Do you have any maxi pads?" I asked him, not overly hopeful.

"Uhhh... sorry. No. I could, like, roll up some paper towels? Umm... is it for normal reasons or did they hurt you that much... down there?"

"I just started my period," I told him bluntly. "It's ok, Jenny is going to bring some."

"Uhh... cool. Hey, why don't I get you a towel?" he offered, jumping up and hurrying to the bathroom.

He came back with a hand towel and helped me up so he could put it on the couch under me, folded in half.

"There, now you don't have to stress about it," he told me, and I could hear the discomfort in his tone.

He had no idea what to say to me or how to deal with a woman who was bleeding. Had he ever dated? Had he ever been around a woman at all?

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked, taking hold of my hand again and sitting down a lot closer than he had been.

"No thanks, I'm not sure I won't need to throw up soon."

"Oh! Hey, I have some ginger ale? I'll make you one!" he called quickly, jumping up and hurrying to the kitchen area. He returned quickly with a glass with ice and ginger ale. "Sip that, it should help!" he smiled. "When Jennifer arrives, I can go get some crackers for you too!"

"I'm not sick, Evan, it's just my nerves."

"Oh... well it should still help? Right?"

"Thanks," I managed, sipping the drink, then setting it down before hugging myself to try and stop the shaking.

"Are you cold? Here!" he called quickly, jumping up and grabbing the afghan off his bed to wrap around me.

"Thanks," I mumbled again, pulling my legs up now that I was covered.

"Sure," he smiled, pleased that he'd been able to help. Sitting close again, he put his arm across my shoulders and half hugged me to him now that my hand was hidden and he couldn't hold it. "Are you sure you aren't hurt? They didn't hurt you? At all?"

"No... not really. They locked me in a cage for a couple days, then Durante took me up to his room. He was nice to me, mostly. Fed me, kept me comfortable."

"They didn't rape you?"

"He didn't let them. He sent them away and kept me safe. Fed me, gave me books to read. He didn't cuff me until the party, just left the door locked."

"Did he... rape you? You intimated earlier that they didn't but he did."

"I don't want to talk about it," I told him quickly, hugging my knees harder.

"Of course, Isabella! I'm sorry," he told me, pulling me close and hugging me to his chest.

I went tense, but it was just a hug. It helped a lot that he smelled like Irish Spring and not some insanely expensive cologne. The smell was comforting for some reason, just clean and cheap, pleasant without being cloying.

"You're just so... perfect," Evan breathed, his hands on my shoulder and arm as he hugged me. "I've never seen anyone in my life that I looked at and just knew... you're everything I never knew I wanted. Like... truly perfect for me! I've never held anyone who felt so right in my arms! Isabella, you..."

"Evan! Please don't! Not right now, ok?"

"Oh... of course," he agreed, releasing me quickly and leaning back. "I'm sorry."

"The hug was ok," I told him, blushing. "The talk... it wasn't."

"Oh! Ok, yeah, I understand!" he smiled, hugging me close again with a hand on my waist and shoulder this time. "You just need to feel protected and not like... wanted or whatever, right? Like an object. I promise you, I'm not objectifying you, Isabella! When I say you're perfect, I don't just mean your body, or your face, or even your grades! It's how shy you are too, and your smile and your sense of humor and all the things we have in common! I hate olives too and always get my supreme pizza with no olives! Black and green both, gross. I love white chocolate and chocolate covered strawberries and the chocolate covered cherry shakes from the D.O. on 27th and Quentin! I love the philly cheesesteak calzones from Papa Don's! I love the white chocolate mocha's from One Bean Hombre! I love the little drive-in over in Fairview with the $1 movies every Saturday! I like the..."

"How do you know all of this about me?" I cried, pulling away from him to look up at him in horror.

"Oh... It's just things we have in common, Isabella! You know?"

"But how do you know?!? How long have you been stalking me, Evan? Is... is that why you took the temporary opening in Lit even though you hate it?" I asked, feeling sick.

He flinched, looking away. "Isabella! I wasn't stalking you! It's not like that! I just... I was trying to find the courage to talk to you and yeah... I knew you were in that class. Do... do you remember me from a couple years ago? In Professor Cooper's Linear Algebra class? I was the TA and I graded all your papers?"

"You were the one who always wrote the little notes... not him!"

"Yeah! Yeah, that was me! You remember me?"

"No... not really, sorry. It was my freshman year and... you've been stalking me that long?!?"

"It's NOT stalking, Isabella! It's not! It was all harmless, I swear! I just wanted to know you and see if I could find the courage to ask you out. You're just so... unapproachable! You only hang out with your roommate, you don't date at all!"

I turned away, then sagged, feeling defeated. Did it really matter? He was still harmless and he had saved me. If he hadn't been stalking me... watching me, following me... he wouldn't have known where I was and I'd still be cuffed to Durante's bed.

No... Evan had killed the others. He wouldn't have done that if it weren't for me either. How many girls had he saved besides Cora? How many more girls would they have kidnapped? Raped and killed? If he hadn't been stalking me.

"Isabella? I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to..."

He trailed off as I turned back to him and leaned against him, curling up against his chest.

Putting his arms around me tentatively, he rubbed my shoulder as tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to choke back more.

"Hey... hey, it's ok! You're ok now, Isabella! You're safe now, I promise! Are you... are crying because of me? Or him?"

"Him," I whispered, hugging his arm. "Thanks, Evan, for saving me."

"Of course! Of course, Isabella! Always! I'll always take care of you, I promise! As long as you let me, as long as you want me to, ok? And if you..."

He cut off to a knock on his door.

"Come in!" he called and I cringed and flinched in terror as the door opened.

It was Jenny and she came in with her arms full of my things.

"Lock it!" I whispered, not even realizing I was that afraid of Durante showing up here until he'd just yelled for whoever was there to come in. It could have been anyone and his door was unlocked!

"Shit! I will!" he promised, jumping up and running to lock the door, then taking things from Jenny so she could come hug me.

I hardly hugged her at all before grabbing my bag and running to lock myself in his little bathroom.

I heard them as soon as I shut the door and started to change.

"Thought you weren't gonna take advantage!" Jenny hissed.

"I'm not! I wasn't! She came to me! She was crying and she leaned into me and hugged me back! She just needed comforting is all!"

"What the hell kind of shithole is this?"

"What I can afford on a temp salary," he told her defensively. "What's wrong with it?"

"You could at least clean up!"

"I didn't know I was going to have company! I'm never home!"

"Too busy spying on girls? Bella and I get the bed, you can have the couch."

"I think she needs to talk to you about that," he mumbled.

"I am NOT letting her sleep here alone with you! She's in a fucked up state of mind! I don't know what happened to her, but she's terrified and you're trying to insert yourself now that she needs someone!"

"It's not worse than you running interference on her all the time, making sure she never has anyone but you! Every time a guy comes near her, you're there to run him off and cock block them! You act like it's about protecting her, but it's about making sure she never has anyone but you! Every time she starts to make a new friend, you're there to tell her all the things wrong with that girl! You..."

"What the FUCK, asshole?!? Are you WATCHING her? Watching me? What the fuck is your problem?"

"Stop acting like me protecting her is worse than you hoarding her for yourself because you're insecure and she's your first female friend! You're so afraid of losing her or someone else getting close to..."

I yanked the door open, hurrying out in my pajamas and my own underwear and properly protected now.

Evan sat up and smiled at me, but Jenny jumped up and hugged me again.

"Babe! It's so good to see you! Now sit down here and tell me everything that happened! Move, slimeball, let us sit down so we can talk!" Jenny told Evan.

"He's fine," I told her quickly, sitting close to Evan as I looked over the door. He'd locked it and the chain too.

Jenny sat next to me, scowling at Evan as I moved closer to him and leaned against his shoulder. His arm immediately went around me and Jenny sat up, crossing her arms.

"What's happening?" she demanded of me. "What happened to him being the creepy stalker? You know he knows shit about you? Creepy shit he shouldn't know about?"

"I'm glad he does," I told her, laying on his shoulder. "If he hadn't, I'd still be handcuffed to a bed. I'd be a prisoner and who knows what would be happening to me right now? I wouldn't be safe"

"Where were you? It wasn't really Haiden, was it? Everyone is saying that Cora is lying and she tricked them..."

"That's all a lie, propaganda to discredit her so no one will look at who was helping them. The fourth kidnapper and murderer. If she's lying and they're innocent, then they aren't the ones kidnapping girls, right? It's all a ruse, a big shell game. He made it all up to cover for them."

"Who? Kenyon? Mike? Durante? Gavin? Who? Only one who might have that kind of clout would be Kenyon, he knows all the social media people. Kenyon isn't the type to do that, none of those guys are!"

"You would have said the same thing about Haiden and Todd and Jeremy," I told her flatly.

"Well, I mean, you have to admit... they can all do better than Cora! Look at her! She's got the body of a dude, come on. Why would they..."

"Because it was about hunting her down," I told her angrily. "Degrading her, raping her, hunting her down and killing her. She doesn't have to be pretty or perfect, just like I didn't have to be! The only reason I'm still alive is because the 4th guy wanted to mess with me more first, so they all moved on to the next girl. If Evan hadn't known where I was and come and saved me while everyone was busy... I would have been next."

Jenny looked at my face, then shook her head as Evan hugged me more tightly.

"Isabella! You are beautiful and perfect! You are! Don't ever think that you're not the most perfect creature to walk this earth!" he whispered to me, rubbing my back.

Jenny snorted. "So who was it? Who is guy number 4?" Jenny asked.

"I'm not going to tell you... but you'll know, maybe, if he comes around looking for me. He might, I'm not sure, but you need to be at the dorms in case he does. Otherwise he'll know you're with me and he'll look for you. I don't want him to find me."

"You want me to be alone at our dorm so if a crazy killer comes by he can get me?!?"

"He wouldn't hurt you, that's not his way. I don't think he will come around, but... me being gone might unhinge him enough to make him at least try and look for me. He wouldn't do anything to anyone but me, though."

"So instead of telling the cops, you're letting this guy come after you to kill you?!?"

"He wouldn't kill me... just... try to convince me to come back or just take me again. He's not... he's not like other people. He would just like... show up and take my hand and tell me it was time to go home, then expect me to just go with him."

"So he's fucking crazy," Jenny huffed. "And you want to let him stay loose why?"

"Because," Evan spoke up. "That would hurt him more than going to jail. It would eat at him, knowing she was out there and not his. In jail, it would be the excuse, but if he were free, and she were free, then it's her choice. That would kill him... knowing she was choosing to not be his. That would be so much worse."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"But wouldn't turning him in clear Cora's name?"

"Her name will be cleared by tomorrow when the statement is released. They will have found evidence of rape from all three men, drugs in her system, all of that. They'll know she was out of it at the time the men were all killed, proving that she didn't do it, and even if she did, they'd all raped her. She was still half gone when she was dropped off at the hospital."

"Who killed all of them if not her? And dropped her at the hospital?" Jenny asked angrily. "Guy number four? None of the other frat brothers could handle all three of those guys! Maybe all of them together, but not just one guy!"

"Unless they drugged them," I told her. "They drugged them, then waited for them to drink enough of the drug to kick in, which was after the rape, but before they were going to hunt her, while they were waiting for her to wake up from the tranquilizer they gave her. Drugged them, then killed them so they could never do it again. And maybe it wasn't guy number 4, maybe it was a good samaritan, or a hiker or something who didn't want to deal with a self defense plea, just wanted to save a girl from that fate? Who knows? What I do know is that they will find that all those men died while she was still too drugged to even move."

"The only way you can know that for sure is if guy number 4 told you that! If he did it and he came back and told you! To what? Try and win you over with his special brand of psycho? His way of telling you he loved you? And that's why he was trying to pin it all on Cora before all the evidence was in so public opinion was already formed and eyes were off of him? All of this is so fucked up! And the fact remains that this man here is still a slimeball! Who has as much as admitted to stalking you and I both!"

I nodded. "Yeah... he's a stalker. I know that. But he's a stalker who saved me, was ready to take me to the police station and handed me his phone without hesitation. Was ready to take me wherever I wanted to go... he has no intention on hurting me or kidnapping me... he just wants to know me. I'll take that over a group of raping murderers any day, especially if it means I'm safe and he always knows where I am."

"Shit, Bella! You're like Stockholmed or something! You know that's not ok, right? He's a stalker!"

"I need you to be at the dorm room in case anyone comes looking for me. I'll go by the police station in the morning and tell them I'm alright if he doesn't come around tonight. If he does come by, call me and I'll go turn him in immediately. Alright?"

"Bella, I can't leave you here with him! He's a creep!"

"He's safe, Jenny. He saved me and... he wouldn't hurt me. He'd cut his own hand off before he'd hurt me. I'll be ok, I promise. And you know where I am and I have my phone now and everything. I feel safe here."

Jenny sighed, throwing up her hands. "Ok, but when this is all over? You're gonna tell me what happened, right?"

"I'll tell you everything on Friday in Lit, since we never pay attention anyway," I told her, giving her a wan smile.

Evan chuckled softly, rubbing my arm again.

"Swear?" Jenny asked, standing up.

"I promise," I told her, then hugged her back as she leaned in to hug me.

"Dude, I still don't like you, but you better take care of her! Keep your hands off her and don't you dare take advantage of her!" Jenny told Evan.

"Understood," he told her, then stood up, easing me to sit up on my own so he could show her out and lock up behind her.

Coming back, he looked me over, his look stressed. "Ok, I'm going to put your things on the bed and get you settled in, ok? I'll sleep on the sofa between you and the door and you can..."

"I'm smaller and the sofa is too little for you," I countered.

"There's no way I'm letting you sleep closer to the door! You can have the bed, I'll..."

"We can share the bed," I told him, knowing that's what he was really hoping for, even if he was willing to cram himself onto the little sofa. "I'll sleep on the far side and you sleep on the door side. I trust you."

His smile then was brilliant as he grabbed up my pillow and comforter, going to make the bed. "Are you sure?" he asked, not slowing down at all as he arranged my pillow. "It's just a full sized, not very big at all!"

"I'm used to a twin with a body pillow along the wall. I'm not very big, I don't take up much room."

"I could probably make due with a twin, I'm not the biggest guy out there, especially in the small apartment. It's the one way I spoiled myself, though, a full sized bed so I had room to turn over without the whole scootch and wiggle roll, you know?"

"I know exactly what you mean," I smiled sadly.

"How's your tummy? You feeling better? You want some water or something instead of ginger ale? From the face you made, I guess you didn't like it?"

"Never been a fan," I agreed. "Water would be perfect."

He grabbed me a bottle of water and brought it to me, then helped me off the couch without really asking and led me to the bed. I climbed in, over to my side, then went still as he undressed down to his boxers before getting into bed next to me. Propping his pillow up, he leaned back and turned on his TV, grinning at me as he turned on Netflix. Scrolling to 'continue watching', he picked the show I'd been watching and hit play.

"Season 3 episode 6, right?" he asked excitedly.