All Chapters of Stranger in my Bed: Chapter 21 - Chapter 23

Erica’s POVI woke up stretched across the sofa, groaning as I arched my back into a long, satisfying stretch that made every inch of my body sing. I felt good. Sore in places I hadn't been sore in years, but good - the kind of ache that made you want to stay wrapped in the memory of it a little longer before facing the day.I glanced around the room. Empty.I wasn't surprised. Some part of me had already braced for it - of course he'd be gone by morning. That was Friday.My hand found my mask, still in place, and I peeled it off with a small wince, my skin thanking me instantly for the relief after wearing it all night. I reached to set it on the side table when I noticed something else there instead.A folded piece of paper.I opened it, and my breath caught somewhere in my chest.It was a note. Not just any note - something achingly close to a love letter, written in a neat handwriting. He talked about last night like it had changed something in him.Bear,I don't quite know how to

Erica’s POVBear.Had I heard that right?I tried to force his name out - Friday - but the tape swallowed it whole, turning it into nothing but a muffled, useless sound against my own lips.He must have understood anyway, because I heard him chuckle, low and warm, the exact same sound that used to make my chest go soft on Friday nights."The one and only," he said.Every cell in my body went cold.This wasn't the fear of a stranger, or the fear of pain, or even the fear of death, though all of that was somewhere in the mix too. This was something worse - the brutal, gutting fear that comes from realizing you handed your heart to someone, freely, completely, and they were never who you thought they were at all.None of it had been real. Of course it hadn't. How had I let myself believe, even for one night, that someone could actually want me - not despite my body, but simply because of who I was inside it? I was fat. Thick. Chubby, however you wanted to soften the word, it all came bac