Beating People on the commute who have a better bike

If I am overtaken by a faster fellow, I sometimes try to stay with him, because I feel safer riding in a group than on my own with all the cars around.

As an aside is there any research about this?

I only ask because I'd say the times I'm most frequently 'buzzed' is when I'm being drafted by another cyclist and the car driver 'can't see' more than one cyclist at a time, overtakes the one behind and pulls towards me without looking.

Is it just me?