Heart-Shaped Box question

Okay, this was a really good book as a whole. I loved the characters as individuals. I'm a sucker for great character development, HOWEVER, I just dont understand Judas' relation to all these women. I mean, he as a person who is kind hearted, strong in his convictions, confidant, knows himself, and I get why he has groupies and these weird relationships. And the women in the story, I get how Tennessee, and Georgia, and Florida and how they are all pretty similar. What I dont understand is how he treats them, and how the story BARELY hints that he has some feelings for them, and then BAM!!! He realized how much he cares for Georgia, saves her, marries her ect. when he barely even gave their relationship a total of 5 pages out of the book. So as much as I was rooting for them both to stay alive, I couldn't get into why Florida was so FERVENT to save him... does that make sense? Jude just seems waaaaay too detached to give a shit. Like the only reason he "cares for" Georgia or Florida is because he is guilty he is older and these young women constantly waste their lives trying to love someone who doesnt even have the capacity to attempt the same for them. Did I miss something??