Evan knocked at the door, and then waited.
"Hey," Colin's voice said from the other side. "You're back."
"I don't want to cause more trouble than it's worth to you, Colin," Evan said back. "So you should just open the door."
"You seem angry."
"Astute observation."
The door opened. Colin stood there in a jacket and a shirt that fit. It was better than he'd dressed in three months of living on Evan's couch.
"I can explain."
"That's rich. Go on. I'd love to hear this."
"You needed to understand, okay?"
"Understand what?"
Evan stepped through the door. His chest almost touched Colin's. His fists tightened. He looked at the room.
It was a nice place. He didn't know what the rent was like here, but it was at least as nice as the place that Evan was staying. Even the furniture was nicer. That had something to do with the well of funds that Colin drew from, Evan knew.
Then he saw her. His eyes fixed on Dana. She sat on the couch, drank from a glass of water, and looked at him.
"Dana."
"How did your thing go?"
"It went, you know… fine."
"Did you meet any girls?"
She threw the glass. She missed him with the glass. It broke on the wall a foot to the side of his head. The water, on the other hand, was a little more creative, and found its way into his face. He felt someone small push past him. He thought about stopping her. But then he thought that he had more to do here, and there was no time to try to accomplish two things at once. He was a man with a single goal, in that moment, and as long as he worked towards it, he might even be able to accomplish one of them.
He chose the wrong one. He knew it the moment that she disappeared around the steps. But he didn't let that stop him.
"You son of a bitch," he cried. He pulled back his fist.
"You need to understand," Colin said. He didn't put his hands up to stop Evan. It made him hesitate.
"Understand what? How fucking underhanded you are?"
"I know, I deserved that. But come on. You think you're the knight in shining armor here? You're such a good guy, and I'm such a bad guy?"
"If you were going to tell her, you could have waited."
"So, what? So you can get away with it?"
"It wasn't even my idea, you fucking idiot. But let me guess, you left that part out when you were fucking my girlfriend, huh?"
The last part hit Evan harder than it thought, even though the words were coming out of his own mouth. His fist moved forward. Caught Colin on the lips. They were caught between his teeth and Evan's knuckles; like most of the time, they split. Blood spilled down Colin's face.
"I'm done with you," Evan growled. "I never want to hear from you again, you piece of garbage."
"Go fuck yourself," Colin rasped. He spat blood on the ground. "You're not good enough for her."
"At least we can agree on one thing," Evan said grimly. He thought about kicking Colin while he was down. It would be easy. But then he decided against it. There was nothing down that road that would help anyone. Least of all himself.
And besides, he had another stop to make. One that would be damaged somewhat by having the cops called on him for assault.
He stormed back down the stairs, and watched Dana's car turn out of the lot. At two hundred yards, it was impossible to make out more than that about her. He tried not to think about how she was reacting to the whole situation, because the only thing that Evan knew for certain was that it couldn't have been very well.
He turned the key in his ignition. It would be easy to catch her. If that was what he wanted. It wasn't.
He pulled out of the apartment's parking lot moving slow. Like usual. The engine growled it's low growl and ultimately used a tiny part of its power to move him around. He stopped at a diner. Ate a meal. And then, when he'd given her a little time to calm down, he picked up his phone and dialed her number.
"Fuck off," she said, an instant after she picked up. Then she hung up. He opened his mouth to respond after the line had already gone dead.
Then he settled back into the car, and started driving. It was aimless at first, but it didn't take long to turn into going someplace specific. He'd only been to her apartment once. But he knew the place, and he knew the number. Somehow it was burned into his mind. And unlike Colin, she didn't have any lack of people coming through her doors.
Evan slipped in through the security door next to an attractive thirty-something woman carrying an armload of groceries. He took some of them to help out, dropped them off, and pretended that he couldn't have had her right there with a few well-chosen words and a decent attempt.
Then he made his way to the fourth floor. There was an elevator, but he didn't take it. He took the stairs, and didn't know why. All he knew was that he had to. So he did. He knocked at the door and stepped back to let her get a good look at him.
She opened the door a crack. The chain was still in place. He knew from the past week that there was no safety to be had in leaving the chain on. You could put your foot through the door as easy as you like, and the chain is little more than a suggestion to stop.
"I told you to leave me alone."
"I came to apologize."
"For what? Getting caught?"
"You have to understand this from my perspective."
"No, no, I get it. I'd slum it for a cool fifty grand, too."
"That's… do you even like him?"
She blinked. He knew the answer in his gut, in that moment, even if she had no intention of telling him. There was a long silence that stretched out. Then she closed the door. She didn't open it again, and after knocking again, and waiting five minutes, Evan started back down the stairs.
That was one consolation, at least. She didn't care for Colin one bit. And the fact that she didn't bothered her. He wished he could take some solace in it. But even the best things that he could have understood from it only made him feel worse.
Because she had liked him. And that only meant that he had really, honestly betrayed her, and there was nothing that he could do to change that.