Chapter 21

Raelynn

The girls creptdown the hall as Sadie kept a close watch, making sure they weren't spotted. Sadie alone wouldn't be a problem, since she was allowed access, but Raelynn, in particular, was a guest and getting caught back here would ruin the whole plan.

It seemed to take forever to cover the short distance to the media control room, but finally, Sadie opened the door and let all the girls in. Once they were inside, the girls wasted no time. As Sadie and Hayleigh did their part, Raelynn and Wren worked together to cover every screen in the room. Scotch tape soon held images of Taylor Swift on every screen present. Computer screens, monitors, everything. As soon as they declared themselves done, Sadie pressed a button and the girls ran for the exit.

Les

He knew it.The moment the announcement system blared to life with music every person not buried under a rock recognized, Les knew his girl had something to do with it. He raced from his room at a pace even faster than that of Taylor Swift singing Shake it Off. Before he'd made it to the end of the hall, a second round of the song was playing. It played at a volume that caused his ears to hurt. The system was designed for emergency announcements, not to play music, and was set to a level designed to be sure everyone heard what was being said.

Les was a bit surprised that the floor didn't shake or the foundation of the Ranch's main resort didn't rumble. It spoke to the construction quality that even that loud bass couldn't shake anything. Nothing except nerves, that is.

Les rounded the corner to the staff entrance just as a third round of the obnoxiously catchy song began to play. That damn chorus was going to be going through his head for months! When he entered the staffing hallway, he found Master Derek already at the door to the media room. He rushed to catch up and was just in time to enter just after him with Travis and Chef Connor right behind him.

Les took a look around and had to hide a chuckle seeing the famous artist staring back at him from every angle including from the security camera. It was seeing Taylor up high that had his chuckles dying in his throat. How had they reached that? Looking around again, he found a rickety ladder that had surely seen better days propped in a corner. It did not look safe at all. He went over to inspect it closer and found rust on some of the hinges.

It didn't seem right for it to be here. Master Derek made sure everything used on the Ranch was in the utmost best condition. Travis came up to him and looked over the ladder as well.

"What the hell is that doing here? I threw that out two days ago. The only thing it's good for now is repurposing."

Les' ire grew as he pointed to the security camera in the corner. Master Derek looked from the ladder to the camera and being the large man that he was, walked over to the camera, grabbed the corner of the paper and tore Taylor from her spot on high. He didn't speak a word as he calmly but purposefully strode through the doorway and down the now silent corridor.

Wren wasin charge of counting the number of plays the song got before someone stopped it but that didn't keep her from joining in as the girls danced and laughed on the top of the playground structure. They were reveling in having pulled it off. None of them had complained after the first couple of chords about how loud it was. It had definitely been louder than any of them had expected, but that just meant everyone could hear it. Taylor made everyone happy, they were sure. She certainly made the girls happy and joyful.

That was, until a very determined-looking Master Derek practically marched onto the playground, followed close behind by the Daddies of the other three girls. They hadn't noticed that the music had stopped playing. They'd been too caught up in singing and dancing. Now, though, everything stopped.

"Sadie Marie Hawkins," Master Derek said as he pointed in front of him. He didn't say anything else. He just waited.

As Sadie hung her head and moved to him, Raelynn marveled at how well he'd done that. He had that stern Daddy aura down pat. She also gave kudos to Sadie who'd not attempted to dally, choosing the quickest way down by wrapping her arms and legs around the firepole and sliding to the ground. Of course, the others weren't anything to sneeze at either as one by one, they called their own Littles down. When it came to her turn, she hadn't even heard his voice yet, and she was already seated on the slide, ready to make her way down to Daddy. No use in delaying.

Seeing that she was on her way to him must have kept him from speaking. She stood after going down the slide to find him standing in a corner of the playground, arms folded across his chest.

She straightened her spine and made her way over. There was no reason for him to be too upset. The prank had been harmless and fun. She could handle this.

"Raelynn," Daddy said in a stern and disappointed voice, "what were you and your friends thinking?"

She hated the disappointment most. "We just wanted something fun and harmless for Repeat Day."

"Was it harmless?"

Raelynn looked at him in confusion, "Of course it was harmless. Who could it possibly hurt to hear a song?"

"Who indeed."

Daddy raised his brow like he was waiting for her to answer the question. She looked at her friends getting what looked to be an equally intense talking to. Why? This prank hadn't possibly hurt anyone. It was just music. Everyone listened to music.

"Daddy, it really was harmless." Placing her hands on her hips, she said something she'd known she shouldn't, but it flew out of her mouth anyway. "As Taylor would say, ‘you need to calm down'."