“Okay, Sammy, Denny, are you ready now? Daddy is waiting for you outisde,” Glori called as she entered the kids bedroom.

They both had their bags ready, with Denise holding her dear bear. “Yes, Sister Glori, we are coming,” she responded in her cute little voice.

Glori smiled and rubbed her on the head as she took their main bag and waited for them to move. “So, what does Grandpa have for you when you go?” she asked as their little bodies scurried out the door.

“Chocolate!” the two infants yelled gleefully.

“He said he’s giving us KitKat. And Twix,” Samuel specified, looking very pleased with himself for pointing out exactly which kinds of chocolate had been promised.

Glori laughed as she followed them. “I see. Good for you. I like chocolate, too. Especially Niche Chocolate. The one in the nice blue wrapper…”

The three of them stepped out of the house as she had a little mock argument with Samuel over whether Niche was nicer than Twix. The little boy was not having any of her remarks about the local chocolate being nicer than that of his beloved caramel goodness.

Thomas stood outside by the car, arms folded as his little boy stomped over to him, totally unamused. “Daddyyy, tell Sister Glori Twix is the best chocolate in the world! Not Nish Chocolate!”

Glori stifled a giggle at the wrong pronunciation of the chocolate.

Thomas laughed and stooped down to rub his little boy on the head. “Don’t mind her, sonny boy. We both know Twix is the best.”

“Yeahhhh!!” Samuel cheered, before turning to Glori to stick his tongue out at her.

She laughed and shook her head.

“Alright, kids. Say goodbye to Sister Glori before we leave.”

“Bye, Sister Glori!” the two chanted happily.

“Bye-bye, little ones!” Glori responded, giving each of them a hug. “I’ll see you on Monday. Have a wonderful time at your grandparents!”

As they entered the car, Thomas looked at Glori and winked, mouthing, “I’ll be back,” before getting into the car, ready to drop off the children at his parents’ place.

***

In her red off-one-shoulder blouse and a pencil jean skirt, Glori busied herself with YouTube videos on her phone as she waited for Thomas to return, so they could set off. Her madam had called her, and as agreed, she lied that she would be returning home for the weekend. Leticia, of course, sensed nothing suspicious, and simply told her to enjoy her ‘return home’ and come back once Thomas had returned from the Garden City.

There was a knock at the gate.

Wondering who it was, Glori got up to go and check who it was. Reaching the gate, she peeped to see who it was.

It was Thomas.

“Ah, Mr. Thomas, but why aren’t you coming in?” she asked as she opened the gate.

He smirked as he entered, then went straight for her lips.

For about a quarter of a minute, that sweet bliss of being kissed by the ‘sexiest man in the world’ overwhelmed her, as she melted in his strong hold. She let off a flurry of sighs as he switched to dirty mode, necking her while sliding a hand inside her blouse.

Just as she began to squirm from the impromptu grope, he pulled away from her, removing his hand from under her blouse as he smiled at her. “Coz I’m in a hurry to get to Kumasi and tear you apart, you sexy girl. Go get your bag, so we can move.”

Breathless, she glanced amorously at him as she walked away to get her bag, which was on the balcony.

She returned to the gate, the bag in her arm. He gently took it from her, his free arm reaching over to smack her on the butt.

“Let’s get moving, babe. The Lust-N-Thrust weekend begins!”

***

“Wow, Mr. Thomas, this is so new to me!” she said excitedly as they drove on the stretch of the Teacher Mante road.

He smirked as he kept his eyes on the road. “I see. You don’t travel much, eh?”

“Nope. Can’t remember the last time I went out of Accra mpo.”

“Wow. That’s interesting. So like, you’ve been in Accra your whole life? Even with the schooling?”

She nodded. “Never been outside of Accra. Maybe we had a trip or two back in the day, but that was when I was too young to remember anything.”

“I see. Well, just look at your luck! Imagine if you’d remained in that stubborn state of mind. Not only would you have missed out on some sweet action, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see parts of Ghana you never knew existed. Aren’t you glad you gave in?”

She giggled and nodded her head, leaning back in her seat and resigning herself to enjoying the view as he returned to focusing on the road while singing along to ‘Nobody Has To Know’ by Kranium.

One of many songs on Thomas’ carefully curated Lust-N-Thrust playlist. With others like ‘Motivation’ by Kelly Rowland, ”Doin It’ by LL Cool J and ‘Magic Stick’ by 50 Cent and Lil’ Kim, the atmosphere was being set up for what would be a crazy weekend.

As she relaxed, thoughts of her family came to mind. Having mentioned their possible trips when she and her younger brother were at the toddler stage, she could now picture them. Going about their regular duties in the compound house she had known since childhood.

The house she had promised to get them out of once she became the famous bestselling author, playwright, scriptwriter and inspirational speaker she knew she was destined to be…

Glori, are you really letting this all go because of some married man? Wake up, girl!

Sista geh, would your parents be happy to see you right now?

Glori, you’ve got big dreams ahead of you! This ain’t part of it, girl! Playing sex toy to some selfish married man? Come on!

Suddenly, those voices were at it again. Hitting hard at her conscience.

She swallowed hard, trying her best to dismiss them. She attempted to hum to the song on play as the car moved along, doing her possible best to dull the sharp edge with which they cut into her mind.

Her phone then vibrated. She picked it up, and saw a text message.

From Rawda.

Glori, I don’t know why you’ve let yourself go like this, but please, stop this madness! This will not end well. I repeat, this will not end well. Please…

She sighed out loud. Dammit, this is not what I need!

“Glori. You okay, babe?” Thomas asked, noting her reaction.

She looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Just some annoying message bi somebody sent me.”

Looking down at the phone, she shook her head and turned the screen off. This is not the time for all that self-righteous BS. Leave me alone and let me have my peace!

Nodding to herself as she looked out the window, she repeated the words to herself inwardly, feeling a bit of contentment as the reiteration seemed to dull her raging conscience.

Leave me alone and let me have my peace. Leave me alone and let me have my peace. Leave me alone and let me have my peace…

She continued until she dozed off…

***

“Well, here we are,” Thomas announced.

Glori opened her eyes, her slumber come to an end after dozing off around Konongo-Odumase. Peering at the building before her, she gasped in amazement.

“Oh my God, Mr. Thomas, this place looks amazing!”

“Yep. This is my luxurious mansion. Magnificent aesthetic landscape. Remote-controlled gate. Big ass garage. Four bedrooms. This is my little piece of paradise here in Oseikrom.”

“Woooow!” Glori breathed, wide-eyed at the beautiful structure before her. This house was miles ahead of the simple bungalow back in Accra. “This is incredible!”

“Mm-hm. Not a cheap house in the least. I pass by every now and then, just to enjoy the fruits of my labour. Neither Leticia nor the kids know about this place, by the way, so remember not to say anything about it to any of them.”

Glori nodded absent-mindedly, too overcome with awe to really hear his order. She had always heard about mansions like these, and to think she was going to spend the weekend in one had her in absolute awe.

“Glori?”

She snapped out of her starstruck reverie and looked at him. “Yes?”

“I said, I’m the only one who knows about this, so don’t let it slip when we go back. This is between you and me. Nobody else should know about this place. Especially not my family.”

Glori’s look of delight lessened by a few degrees. Why would he buy such a prestigious house and keep it a secret from his family? Did he really dislike them that much?

She wasn’t in the mood for asking questions, however. This was supposed to be a weekend of fun and enjoyment, and Thomas could be quite irritable when it came to issues concerning his family. So she nodded. “Sure, Mr. Thomas. Our little secret.”

“Perfect! Now come over here, you little…”

Any thought of dissatisfaction was extinguished as he grabbed her by the waist and made contact with her lips. She giggled as his usual touchy nature came into play, his hands quickly exploring and squeezing the favourite parts of her.

“Come on, girl,” he whispered in her ear, the two of them already breathing heavily from that brief loss of self-control, “let’s get in and get busy. I got a little pink machine that’s waiting to go downstairs and… have you feeling like you’re walking on golden streets.”

“Oh, God, yes,” she moaned. “Let’s go, Mr. Thomas.”

With that, both of them swiftly opened the doors, got out and ran to the door of the house. Thomas excitedly unlocked the door, with Glori right behind him. They quickly ran in, ready to get off to a flying start. Forget about their bags and all, it was the sex that mattered at that point.

The Lust-N-Thrust weekend was well and truly underway.