Fezco // Safe Space (𝔼𝕦𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒)

Chapter 43

Sofia's POV

I put the receipt back where I found it and then stepped out of the car to throw up. This caught Fezco's attention, he came rushing out of the store to be by my side. I threw up again.

He placed down the bag full of stuff he just bought and began rubbing my back while holding my hair back. "You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah it must have been something I ate... I'm gonna go to the bathroom actually, before we leave" I told him, getting myself together.

"But you hate public restrooms..." he mentions. I had nothing to say, just a sick feeling in my stomach. He opens up and shows me the bag of snacks.

"Here I just bought you some-" "I don't really have an appetite right now, okay? Just let me go." I cut him off and quickly pulled myself away. I needed to be alone for a second.

I made my way into the gas station convenient store, immediately finding the bathroom. I took a moment to truly catch my breath before actually comprehending what I just saw.

Why does Fezco have Devin's address on a piece of paper in his car?

I threw up again, trying to compose myself. Once I was done vomiting, I cleaned up my face and brushed my teeth in the sink.

Although I hate public restrooms, I find myself sitting on the toilet and scrolling through my phone trying to find any type of clues that would confirm my new suspicions.

I had linked Devin's laptop to my device earlier, which means that I can also access certain data in his phone that he has connected to his laptop.

Including his location, which I had been checking pretty often despite finding nothing. Check the location.

I checked the location on Devin's phone, and there was nothing. This time, I decide to check the location on his Apple Watch too. Something wasn't right. My heart stopped beating again for a second time.

This can't be possible.

Devin is here? Right now?

Suddenly, Devin going missing didn't feel right at all. Something about it was scary. Could he have faked his disappearance? Why would he be following me? What if he's right outside?

Fez: you okay?

I swallowed a lump in my throat and began pacing back and forth. I decided to call him instead of texting back. He picks up the phone. "Hey I been waiting out here for a while now... everything alright?" he asks.

"N-No, Fez... look- I think I just saw Devin." I lie to him. I wasn't going to tell him that I was actively checking his location. "I'm sorry, you what?" he says confused.

"I just saw a man and I think that it was Devin" I repeat myself. "Maybe someone who looks like Devin, but if it was really him, don't you think he would have tried talking to you?" he asks in a concerned voice.

"Fez, I'm not lying, it really is him. I don't want to talk to him Fez and I don't want him seeing us together. What if he's been following me around this whole time?" I begin breaking down feeling like I'm losing my mind.

"Sofia, you sound crazy. You probably just saw someone who looks like him. Either way, I'm coming inside. Don't leave the store if you don't feel safe." he tells me before hanging up.

Ignoring me and being in the same place as me is crazy. What if I walked out there and saw Devin? God I feel like an FBI agent struggling to solve a cold case. I gained my composure when I heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"come on Sofia, open up" Fez says calmly.
I slowly open the door and find myself falling into his arms for a warm embrace. He hugs me back and I feel the urge to cry into his hoodie.

What is wrong with me today? This whole Devin situation has me so out of wack, I can't even think straight to begin putting all the clues together. All I want is to be with Fez and stop thinking about Devin as a person.

You'd think that out of sight would automatically equal out of mind too.

I pull away from him and he pulls me close to his side, walking out of the store with me. I look around to see Devin nowhere in sight, just like he said. But it makes no sense. His Apple Watch location was just here. Maybe he left...

I decided to give up on his whereabouts and the reasoning behind it, clearly he's alive and ignoring me. Either that or his dead body is being hidden inside of a gas station, I doubt it.

Once Fez got me situated in the car, I found myself curled up in the passenger seat watching him roll up.

I reached into the gas station bag and rummaged around for something that would soothe my stomach, pulling out a Fiji water that he obviously bought for me anyway.

"I got your chips in there too" he tells me. "My stomach still hurts, I'll just have to eat them later" I responded to him softly.

"You know, that dude was crazy for messing things up with you Sofia... sometimes people are crazy in all the wrong ways." he tells me.

"Fez he messed up so many times already. Cheating with Cassie was a new level of disrespect, but he wouldn't disappear over it" I try to reason with him. "Are you sure?" he shoots back at me. I didn't respond.

"You said it yourself... sleeping with that girl was a new level of disrespect for him. Maybe he saw that video after it went viral. Now he doesn't wanna own up to what he did."

I take a big sip of my water bottle. "You think that he went missing on purpose because he doesn't feel like admitting to cheating? Even if that was the case, Fez, he was just here. I'm not lying. It was him. I know it was him and you can't change my mind. It's really fucking weird, okay? Neither of us live out here, I'm only in this area to help Maddy babysit." I tell him.

"Stop letting him get into your head, alright? You spent years in an abusive relationship with this guy and you think he doesn't have a hold over your head?" he bring me back to reality.

"Right now that man is living in a narcissistic delusion where he gets to avoid taking any type of accountability while faking his own disappearance. People like that are unpredictable, he wants to keep you on a leash so he plays mind games with you for days. Where is he? What is he doing? Why is he missing? All while following you around and stalking you trying to scare you and consume your thoughts. It's a mind game and you're playing right into it." he explains to me.

"But he wouldn't fake his own disappearance and trick all of his family into thinking the same exact things as me... right?" I ask.

"Thats a really bold assumption, Sofia. I thought you'd be smarter then that after being exposed to the real world" was all he said.

"You think he'd do all this just to put thoughts in my head and control me?" I ask seriously.

"You must not know the lengths that a mentally ill person will go to control somebody who they view as property. It's a good thing you have someone like me who can help you to identify that type of person. They're not safe."

After a few moments of silence, I look back up at the sun visor to see that the piece of receipt paper was now missing. Completely gone.

Chills went down my spine but I lacked the words to speak with him. "You seem really lost in your mind..." he trails off. Yeah, I am.

He stops rolling for a moment and we just sit there, looking at each other. "You wanna come back to my place... say hi to Ash, lay down with me for a while?" he asks, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear.

I nod my head yes and he finishes rolling up. He sparks it before passing it to me, then he finally started the car.

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𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣