Chapter 10

Ross and Amelia turned up for yoga the next morning with a big grin on their faces. “Thanks for last night – we had a great night!” Amelia said. “And Ross’ Mum and Dad and his sister are coming next Saturday, if that’s alright.”

Larissa smiled sleepily at them. “Well, glad you had fun. But I’m surprised, I thought you’d be more private about this?”

Amelia smiled. “I expected so, but Thursday night was such fun, and then we talked to Ross’s family last night, and we want them to see the ceremony parts, to understand that we’re serious about each other. So we’ll have promises please.” Larissa agreed. “And the naked part ... we did naked yoga yesterday with them.”

After yoga, and breakfast, everyone but Sophie and Larissa headed off to church. They stayed home to make lunch, since Mark and his family were coming over for lunch.

They were busy, but Sophie found a few minutes for a solid hug. “Remember the first time we talked in the kitchen here?” Larissa smiled. Such a lot had happened since then. “It seems like a different age; you were so unsure, but I could see what you could be.”

Larissa rested her head on Sophie’s shoulder. “You could have ended our relationship right there, you know. I’m so glad that you are who you are.”

Sophie pushed them apart and looked in her eyes. “I know. And imagine if I had turned you away? What you would missed out on, what we would have missed out on, the incredible joy and love you’ve added to all our lives. I’m so glad that you two made it past that critical day.” They kissed. “Now, we better get this lunch done.”

Mark and his family turned up at about the same time that the rest of them got home from church. Lunch was nearly ready, so after introductions, they just sat everyone down for lunch using the outside table in the backyard, since it was a lovely day. All eight of the family were there, plus Rachel, and five in Mark’s family – his wife and three daughters. Julian, James and Sophie had met them before, back when Larissa was working on her talk, but the rest of the family hadn’t. The daughters were aged from eighteen to fifteen, and were very close, very passionate and confident.

Once everyone knew who everyone was, and lunch was underway, James said to Mark, “So I wonder, what’s it like to have Larissa for an employee?”

Mark laughed and said, “Hell, I wonder, what’s it like to have her for a daughter?” James laughed back at him. “Actually, can I ask, it’s never been clear, she’s not actually your daughter is she?”

Sophie smiled. “Larissa is our daughter in every way that matters, but not in the way you’re asking. Julian brought her to us, and her family had blown up, so she chose to be part of us as much as she can, to the point that when she says ‘mum’ or ‘dad’ she means us. Such an honour. But...” She paused, and looked at James, and they both laughed. “maybe she might be easier as an employee.”

“Neither of you have to put up with her as a sister!”, Steph exclaimed.

“I do,” Jaiden said, pouting.

Mark laughed. “Larissa, would you like to come home with us then?”

Larissa smiled. “Thanks for the offer, but you know I’m a sucker for punishment and I actually love nearly all the whole of the family. So I’ll keep them anyway.” She grinned. “But you could take Steph – she’s the wild one!”

The whole family laughed at that, even Steph who had a rueful grin on her face.

Then Mark said, “But seriously, Larissa has certainly been a challenging employee. She came to us differently to anyone else. A friend of mine recommended her – said she was special, and I should offer her a spot. Anyone else, no way, but she’s only done that three times and each time she was dead right. Ruth! So Larissa jumped in over our normal process, and I had a few noses out of joint about that. And then the thing with Lacey happened, which you know all about, but I had two issues to manage – one was that now Larissa had just jumped over everyone to be the most important, and the other was that she shouldn’t have even gone out there that day, according to our rules.” Wow, Larissa thought.

“The second, yes, I could deal with that, and it turned out that the decision to send her out was partly to bring her down. They just hoped you’d make some mistakes and people wouldn’t think so highly of you, Larissa. They liked you, they just thought you were going too fast. Well, that backfired on them!” He laughed at that. “But the first, I was really worried about that until I saw how you were going about it. The calendar thing, that made you so many friends, and you never made anyone think you were special, and those were really big deals – everyone was watching you. So those were challenges, and then, of course, I had to figure out how to turn what you did into a marketing success. But you know about that. I wish we didn’t have to do that, but money fucking matters, to quote you.” Larissa laughed, especially at the surprise on his daughter’s faces. He grinned at them, and said to them, “sometimes, you just have to use that word, it’s really the only appropriate way to say things. And I’ve given you a pass when it is.” Yes, they were nodding, he had.

“Actually, I love having her as an employee. She’s actually very good at her actual job. She has amazing customer satisfaction. It doesn’t matter who she visits – little old ladies, families with young kids, farms – they all love her and keep asking for her to come back. At first I thought it was because of she was on TV for Lacey, and there was a bounce for that, but most of them don’t even realise that anymore. She even visited a brothel and they wanted her back. It’s some kind of magic!” He looked fondly at Larissa. “It’s not really magic; she just really wants to get on with people. Though how did you do that at a brothel?”

“You want me to answer that in front of your daughters?”

“Yes, they know how things work, and they’re mature enough to make sense of your answer.”

Larissa shrugged. “So that brothel, the girls are all gym junkies, and naturally very focused on core strength. So when I was there, one of them asked me about it from off TV, and we had an impromptu sit up competition, both forward and reverse. They thought they were pretty good, but they were blown away when I ran out of weights to load up and still did them. They loved that, and then I told them about a couple of sex positions that my core strength lets Julian and I do, and that really got their attention. They’re still asking me for us to demonstrate them.” So naturally, Mark’s daughters wanted to know what a ‘sit up with weights’ was, and so she demonstrated, and then they demanded to know the sex positions. Larissa laughed, and described them, and how they worked, and said that no one else she knew could do either of them, though some friends were working towards them.

Mark and his wife were just shaking their heads looking at her, and she laughed at them. “Well, you did say.”

Sophie laughed, and said, “It’s always a surprise with Larissa, and then it turns out you really did ask for it.”

“Anyway, back to Larissa and her work, she’s very intense. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get complaints.” James said.

“Well, of course. But most of them are a pointless waste of time, like with all the others. But one day, we had a real complaint, and Mary who handles the complaints was so surprised she came to me. I was surprised too, so I asked Ruth to talk to Larissa about it, and Larissa, you told her about the client. Larissa, do you have any idea who I’m talking about?” Larissa had no idea – what was he talking about? People complained about her? “You told Ruth about a guy you visited, and then you saw his daughter, and you didn’t like what you saw.”

“Oh. Yes. That man.” The tone of Larissa’s voice was perfectly clear. She did not like that man at all.

“You didn’t make a formal report?” Mark asked.

“No, I didn’t have any evidence, just my gut feeling. I managed to get the girl by herself but not long enough, and she wouldn’t say anything.” She looked around. “She was about fourteen. I thought she was getting abused, but I had nothing solid to go on. Her dog loved her but was terrified of him. You can’t fool dogs, I know that from personal experience, and I saw other hints.”

“Well, Larissa, Ruth told me what you said, and of course, you were right, there was not enough to go on to make a report or anything. But he complained, said she was a troublemaker, and he didn’t want her again.” For a second, Larissa was outraged but that was a game she knew all too well, and Mark was going somewhere with this. “So I chatted to the police commissioner after our weekly meeting, and that week, a couple of plain uniform police visited the family to investigate Larissa’s disgraceful behaviour.” Larissa could see that the family were outraged now, but she’d figured out where this was going. “But actually, they were from the domestic abuse division. Because he agreed with me that Larissa wouldn’t get a feeling like that for nothing. So. The police commissioner told me I’m allowed to tell you that a criminal case is going to the courts.”

Well, wow. She was surprised she even found that much out. And the looks on her family’s faces were lovely validation for her.

“So good instinct, and I’ve learnt not to ignore them, though you can’t always act on them. But usually, the calls about Larissa that I hear about are quite different. Like one call from a mother of a young girl; the young girl had found a koala that had been in a car accident, but Larissa had to put it down.”

“I told them about this, it was the first animal I had to shoot, so a big deal for me.” Mark’s daughters didn’t know, though, so he asked her to tell them about it – explaining to the young girl that the koala was going to die, and it was hurting, and that the little girl’s love made it easier for the koala, and then both of them kissing it goodbye before she shot it. They had tears in their eyes.

“You did awesome,” Mark said. “I listened to the call, and we’re making it part of the standard training course. So those calls, we’ve had a few of them, people who just love the way Larissa has treated their little kids, though that one really stood out.”

“So since we’re saying good things about Larissa, a couple of more things, and then I’ll let you all go back to ragging on her. I had a meeting with the department this week, and I was doing estimates, and we estimate that Larissa has added six million dollars to our bottom line now. Usually, that would mean that we’d lose nearly that much from our government funding, but the minister was very impressed with Larissa, and they’ve decided they don’t want a public relations problem right now, so they’re going to keep the funding stable. That means that we can use that extra funding to invest in internal infrastructure – better kit, stuff like that, which is great for us all. Well done, Larissa!”

Wow. She knew just how big a deal that was for everyone in the team. Yeah, she could feel good about that as she listened to the family’s pleasure and congratulations for that.

“What did you think of the minister’s video, Larissa?” Mark asked.

She smiled. “Yeah, I did like it. I didn’t expect to, you know?”

Mark agreed, and explained to everyone why there was a video from the minister. “Actually, one of her staffers who’s a good friend wrote it after watching a live recording of your presentation and everyone’s response to it, and he showed bits of it to her before she recorded it.” Larissa nodded, smiling: that explained some of her references to their shared mission, and her smile as she said that she knew they all felt strongly about it. And then there was the sly smile as she said that she’d seen how strong their team feeling was on the dance floor. Yeah, more good feelings for that. She listened to Mark telling everyone else about the video.

When he finished, James said, “You know, I’ve told the family that Larissa and Julian meeting the minister without their shirts on is the craziest thing that’s happened this year; some of the other stuff has been just wild, but that’s just insane, even for Larissa. I can’t believe that you set that up.”

Mark shrugged. “Well, I sure didn’t set it up, I just was left with no choice. It certainly was a huge risk, but I had to trust in Larissa, and she delivered – that half-embarrassed smile when she explained was just perfect. But other wild stuff – more than Lacey’s rescue? Oh – and that party?”

Larissa smiled at him. “Well, you asked!” Then she told them all about hand-fasting thing at the local pub – it was an obvious choice, given that it was in public, and his friend was there for the second one. She could see Mark nodding at that. Then his daughters wanted to know what ‘that party’ was a reference to, so she told them about that, the start of all the craziness for the year. Hah, and Mark might regret this all, because she could see his daughters kind of liked the whole dancing in your underwear thing. Oh – and his wife too? Well, that could be fun for him. Well, they were invited to the wedding so there was a good chance for them there.

Then Mark asked her how the thing with Scott’s company happened, and how on earth she could say ‘I didn’t even show them any tit!’”, so she had to explain that whole crazy night, but since he’d asked her in front of his daughters, she told them all about the cameo with Ana, and then Julian decided to throw in about her getting her tits out at the pub the next week with Ana and Brianna, and another loose comment led to her telling the daughters about the deal between them around drinking and oral sex.

Sophie laughed again, “You did ask! And that’s the Larissa we love. Wild, and crazy, but also so committed to making everyone’s lives better, not just at her work.”

“Oh yes,” Larissa said, keen to redirect the discussion, “and thank you for approving that video I made for Julian’s Youtube channel.”

Mark smiled at her. “Oh that was a pleasure. And that lead to us watching a whole bunch of Layna’s videos that night when I got home.” Now Mark’s family wanted to ask Julian about that, since they were now huge fans, and as they discussed that, they discovered that Steph was doing all the social media work, and they told her that they were also fans of the way she stuck it up the big companies. Larissa listened, happy that the discussion had moved away from her.

Then Mark enquired about how the whole project came about and was funded, so that led to a discussion between Julian, James and him around the use of social media like that, and Mark suggested that they consider corporate speaking gigs for Layna. Sure, he said, you’re pretty anti-corporate, but getting in their faces like that – a real impact. And they’d go for that: she’s beautiful, presents well, has passion for the mission, and they’d love to hear some of the behind-the-scenes stories. Julian was thinking hard about that, and then told them some of the funnier things that had happened but not made it into their videos. “Yes, see,” Mark said, “and I’d love to help with that – help you craft the message, and give them the right contacts.” And he was absolutely hitting a home run with his daughters with that, Larissa could see. And they’d love to meet Layna, that was obvious.

At this point, Sophie started tidying up from lunch. Larissa jumped up to help, as did Mark’s wife, while his daughters moved closer to Julian, wanting to talk more about the Youtube video. Larissa smiled diffidently at Mark’s wife, and said, “We got to talking about sex quite a bit there, sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. They all have boyfriends, though the youngest is still feeling her way with him. From my point of view, great to have you as an example for them – they really admire you. Sure, you’re very open about sex, but for us, you’re showing our girls what it’s like to have strong principles at the same time. And meeting with you and having input into your presentation message, that was super good for our family. I admit to being surprised at the thing with Scott, though. And even more surprised how open you are with your family.”

Sophie grinned. “Oh, we know Larissa and love her for what she is and all three of our children are very enthusiastic with their partners, and happy to be open about that with each other, and us. And Larissa has way wilder stories than that, but they weren’t appropriate for today. And we do naked yoga together every Sunday morning, which is wonderfully bonding for us. Honestly, I highly recommend that.” Yes, Mark’s wife was listening to that with interest. Sophie wanted her to share her principles poster, so she went off to find her phone.

When she was done with that, she checked her notifications. Wow, Ruth was getting married! And she wanted Larissa to call her about the wedding. She hurried down to the table and told Mark, who gave her a lovely smile. “I’m so pleased for her. She’s been keen for a long time.”

She found a message from Ana – an invitation to have drinks with her and Brianna and their guys. But no alcohol or they’d have to do blowjobs on the spot, she joked. Larissa grinned and replied that she was in for sure, and Julian if he was free. And definitely at a pub, where the question of alcohol could arise.

Eventually, Mark and his family reluctantly said goodbye, another social engagement they had to be at. But not before his daughters had hinted that they wanted to try shuffling in their underwear. Larissa let that one go but she’d check with Mark if there was a next time. Or there was the wedding.

Time for her and Julian to get home and do housework, but then she found a really interesting notification: Lem and Sal posted a photo of themselves having lunch for their wedding anniversary.

Whoa. She sent a message off to Sal, congratulations, and asking her for one last Monday morning meeting, so she could thank her properly, with Julian too.

One year ago today, she had been sitting on the beach with Maria, expecting to go out drinking and get picked up by a guy for the night, and her life had been blown apart by meeting Kat and Dave on the beach. Was that really just a year ago, that started that spiral towards disaster that she’d been primed for?

And now: she had a date to get married, early next year, and she was totally mixed up with Julian, lives that could no longer be drawn apart. In time, they’d have their own children. And they’d buy a house on the edge of the city, and she’d be surrounded by love – husband, children, lots of animals, and her extended family. And she had all her friends as well, passionately engaged friends, and a job that was a life mission, as did Julian; their jobs were even being slowly drawn together in purpose.

Awesome. She had so much to be thankful for. What a difference a year could make. Sal. Family and Friends. And Julian. Wow.

She shared the message with her family – they understood just what it meant, and she got lovely hugs and kisses from them all. Then she sat with Julian, holding him tight. Her awesome man, wow.

Never letting him go, tied tightly for always.

Then she sent a message to Dave, knowing the whole family would see it:

I’m the girl who you saved on the beach. Twice. You made my dreams come true. Thanks for meeting up!

While she was waiting for Sal on Monday morning, Larissa sent Kemala a message.

“About Friday night – we were thinking about a night in town with another couple we’re friends with. Do you want us to keep an eye on you when you’re in the bar? No need for Bam to know.”

Talking to Sal was lovely. Sal’s huge family was doing well. Kat had said that there was a lot of sex happening but now the younger siblings were getting in on the act there was way more, just insane. But both Kat and Sal were happy with how they were going about it. But she did laugh and say that Zara’s core strength had come along quicker than expected, and it looked like she was going to be able to do that blowjob before her eighteenth birthday, but Zach had given up and decided she could get pregnant straight away. Lem’s art sales were doing really well, and they had kept their own lovely place in their relationship. And Sal was super busy doing her work, helping lots of women.

“I was going to ask you about that – I was really lucky and fell into a perfect family for me. I’m sure it doesn’t usually go so well – does that get you down?”

Sal pursed her lips. “It can, you know. Getting the balance between caring enough and caring too much can be difficult. You were my first, so I cared too much, really. But I got lucky with you.” She smiled at Larissa. “You did everything and more, worked so hard. And, as you said, you landed in the right place. If only it was so easy. It’s hardest for women in relationships that have turned toxic, and there’s kids involved. I’ve learnt to get a sense of what is possible. Sometimes, it’s just wonderful. But I think it’s like you and having to kill animals – what you said about that. Good and bad, and the good is very good.”

Larissa nodded. Indeed. And how was Sal feeling about the department thing?

She shrugged. “I’m happy to talk to them, but can it make much difference anywhere? I don’t know. In some paradise, we’ll figure out how to stop people hurting each other, behaving badly. Mostly, people don’t want to hurt other people, specially those they love, but they don’t know how not to – a combination of past damage, inadequate cognition, too much pressure from life, addiction to alcohol, drugs, quick solutions and violence.” She sighed. “It does incalculable damage to society that censorship bans sex and is so permissive to alcohol and violence. Make war not love. But, you know, that just reflects our collective desires. So there will be no paradise, except the private ones we can build if we work hard and we’re lucky. And you’re lucky, so keep working hard!” Sal smiled at her. “But you do, and you are having such a lot of fun. How’s your mum doing?”

Larissa told her what had happened, and that there hadn’t been any change. Sal pursed her lips. “Yes, it does sound like that will fall apart sooner or later. And your mum will probably rely on you to pick up the pieces, quite unfairly, really. But you probably have some time to get ready for that and decide how you’ll handle it. You’ll end up parenting her if you’re not careful.”

Larissa told her what Julian had said: her mum would be high dependency right about the time Larissa was ready to have babies. With luck. Sal laughed. “Well, there could be worse outcomes. I guess all you can do is keep talking to her. Unless you want to blow her off. What about your brother?”

Larissa smiled, and told Sal about meeting him and Jane. “Wonderful. It’s lovely to hear a good story. And you’re all OK? No clouds on the horizon?”

No, none that Larissa knew about. So good, and she told Sal what she’d been thinking yesterday.

“That’s lovely. For you, and for me.” Sal had such a wonderful smile.

“But there is something you can help me with,” she told Sal. “Do you know anyone who’s into bondage?”

Sal looked her in surprise, and a little concern. “Why?”

“Oh,” Larissa smiled, “not me! I’ve been helping a friend of a friend who’s seriously into getting tied up but has very little experience with guys. She’s got a boyfriend, and we’ve agreed that I’m handing over the duty of tying her up to her boyfriend this weekend, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion she might be into bondage big time, unlike me, and I don’t want to screw things up for her. Whatever that means. So do you know anyone?”

“Yes, Kat’s got a friend who’s seriously into that, and we always turn to her. Her name’s Vana. I’ll give you her number and let her know that you’re calling.”

They finished with a kiss that was more than a friendship one. “For the whole family,” Larissa said, and Sal laughed.

She had to hurry off to work, but she had time to see a message from Kemala: “Sounds like a good idea. Call me.”

She’d agreed to meet her sisters at the stripper shop after work, but it closed too early. Instead, they arranged to meet there after Larissa did another corporate lunch – they were coming thick and fast now, with Christmas approaching. That worked well, since the lunch was in the city, and the shop was up near the city. Inside the shop, Steph and Asha were lost for words. Larissa, of course, had been there before.

Asha’s brain was exploding. “People buy this stuff?” The shop had a weird mix of stuff. Sexy, obviously, and it tended towards the extreme, of course. But that wasn’t what was blowing Asha’s brain, it was the mix of kinky, kitsch and just plain weird that was doing it. Larissa laughed, and pointed Asha at Steph, who was doing a good impression of someone in paradise – looking through the shop and laughing as she saw all the different stuff.

Steph turned to them and grinned. “How did I not know you could get this stuff? I need a lifetime account, this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!” She showed them a bright pink pair of hot pants with lace frills, and the words ‘Daddy’s baby’ written on them. “Paradise! I’m in love!” Larissa couldn’t work out whether Steph was serious or not. She wondered whether Steph knew.

Larissa laughed at Steph and dragged Asha over to the counter and explained to the woman what they were looking for. The woman grinned, because she’d been watching Steph, who had Rachel on a sling on front her, and said, “Sure, that’s a pretty common one.” She showed them a range of possible choices, and they spent a while looking at them, and considering what kind of look Kemala might want. There was a range, from stuff that clearly could only be worn inside a brothel through to stuff a streetwalker could wear; they even found the famous outfit from the Pretty Woman movie. In the end, they decided that she’d go for something a bit toned down on top – Asha was thinking of typical clubwear, just not age appropriate. Instead, they focused on the crazy sexy underwear, grinning at each other, because the shop had some very ornate lingerie. Asha laughed and said, “This stuff would drive Jaiden crazy – it’d take him so long to get it off!”

“Get it off before he can get off?” Larissa said, laughing. It would entertain her to drop that on Julian, for sure.

Steph came up to them, grinning. “I have got to bring Layna back here!” She saw their surprise, and said, “Oh, Layna just loves goofy and kitsch. A private thing for her, you know. Anyway, she’d love this place, but probably not as much as me. Did you find anything? Cause I sure did!”

Asha shrugged. “I’m not sure. I was looking at this lingerie set, and wondering whether to just get it, and save us from coming back here?”

Steph smiled. “Would your mum like coming here?”

“No, probably not. She just likes style, when she can, and this place ... an assault on her senses.”

Steph grabbed the lingerie, and looked at the price. “I’m feeling generous, and you guys are just students. Even if you’re Mz Corporate Speaker, Larissa. I’ll get it. And while you’re here, Xander told me to get something for each of you. Larissa, what would you want?”

“Really, I loved their collars!”

Both Steph and Asha laughed at her, but they liked one of the collars so much that they bought three identical ones, lovely, elegant chokers made with silver stars. They also bought matching pairs of leg garters for themselves, leather ones that hinted strongly of bondage. Finally, Asha bought a black choker with a steel love heart for her mum to wear on Friday night. Larissa agreed – if anything talked of sex with style, that sure did it for her.

Then Steph produced a strappy body harness, with wrist cuffs that had chains up to a ring on the neck, or just attached to the waist, and showed it to Larissa. Larissa gasped – it was love at first sight, and she really wanted it. Steph grinned and said, “You have to try it on first!” Well, that was hardly a surprise, so Larissa went into the change room and removed all her clothes except her sports undies, and put it on. Tricky, so she asked Asha to help. When she came out to show Steph – of course she had to come out into the shop, Steph said, “You can’t model it with those boring undies on – find something sexy, and change them!”

Larissa already knew this ... dress? ... was a sure buy, so she pushed her boring undies off on the spot, grinning at Steph, since she might as well be naked. “Sexy enough for you? That means you have to get the rest of the outfit – tiny black g-string, and the stockings to match.” Then she noticed the way that Asha was looking at her, and said, “And you have to buy a second one for Asha too, for her eighteenth birthday. Asha, you can wear this outfit when I tie you up.” She knew Steph was going to say that Asha had to model it too, so she said, “Uh uh. First time she wears it is when you and I put it on her.” Then she had to laugh again, at both the expression on Asha’s face, and the one on the woman from the shop who was watching them. Larissa said to the woman, “We love your shop! I think we’re going to be regulars!” She could see the woman wanted to ask, so she grinned and said, “We’re just sisters, helping each other love our men. Well, Steph here is sister to our guys.” Then she had a sudden thought. “Tell me, do you do parties here?”