Wicked Ways

By Chris "Chauncey" Mashburn, Brandon Gorman and Mark Arw

Terry and Randy Barnett are two brothers who live in a small country town in Tennessee.

Randy is a 22 year old marijuana dealer. He's infatuated with fast women, fast cars, and money.

Terry is a 24 year old jack of all trades. Most of his day consists of doing yard work, repairing cars, or hanging out with his girlfriend.

WICKED WAYS is a southern tale about how the Barnett's lives changes drastically after a meth epidemic hits their town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504985697

Chris "Chauncey" Mashburn

"Christopher Chauncey Michael Mashburn was born April 4th, 1980 in Atlanta, GA. Chris was raised by his single mother Nancy Mashburn-Reilley. They traveled all over the U.S., bouncing around in Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri. Chris attended high school and college in Missouri. He continued moving on his own, stopping in Louisiana and Colorado, before finally coming back to Atlanta in 2004. Chris has been a performer and entertainer all of his life. Just ask the people around him. His witty humor, funny characters, crazy voices, and perfect impersonations have gained peoples attention throughout the years. He’s has been perfecting his craft with experience in acting, writing, voice-over, comedy, production, improv., and even as a hype-man doing mascot work. With the launch of his entertainment and talent company, ChaunceyTalent LLC in 2010, you can expect even more from this up and coming star." Brandon Gorman is an actor, known for Game Over (The Endless Whispers Cycle) (2014), Words to Kill (2011) and Trinity Goodheart (2011). Back in 1994, Mark ARW created the video/film production company RUEL ENTERTAINMENT. Mark started Ruel Entertainment for the purpose of developing movies and television shows. Under RUEL ENTERTAINMENT, Mark produced multiple television series on public access television including the program RULE HOLLYWOOD. Ruel Entertainment eventually evolved to become MARK RUEL MEDIA in 2010. Mark has written, produced, and directed short films such as STORMY MONDAY that was accepted in the 2002 UrbanMediaMakers film festival and also the short film THE RAP GAME that was accepted into the 2007 Atlanta Hip Hop Film Festival. In 2008, Mark co-wrote and co-directed the inspirational stageplay, AFTER THE STORM, which was followed by a novel in 2010. MARK RUEL MEDIA produces a variety of projects from “inspirational” to “on the edge”.

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© 2016 Chris Chauncey Mashburn, Brandon Gorman, & Mark ARW. All rights reserved.

Edited by Nancy Mashburn-Reilley

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/21/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8570-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8569-7 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

About The Authors

Chris Chauncey Mashburn dedications:

Charles Marcellus Mashburn Jr. – My saint of a grandfather, who is the hardest working and most honest man in the world. A true inspiration to everyone he ever met or knew.

Sybil Mashburn – My loving and caring grandmother, who was the perfect compliment to my grandfather. She stuck by and cared for Charles Mashburn till the end. She gives our family more love than anyone could wish for.

Nancy Mashburn-Reilley – My beautiful and intelligent mother, whom I get everything from.

Mike Reilley – My dad, the toughest man I know. He made me the man I am today.

To all of my family and friends who I love endlessly, my motivation and joy come from each and every one of you.

Atlanta, GA the city where I was born and raised, where I get most of my character and inspiration from. It will always be my home.

CHAPTER 1

RANDY BARNETT, 22, SHIFTED HIS RED 1978 Chevy Nova into third gear and accelerated up Oakwood Drive, heading into town. It was a steamy August afternoon and he could feel the sweat trickling down towards the small of his back, but sweating in the summer heat wasn’t the problem. Even the fact that his A/C was out and likely to stay that way for a while wasn’t that big a deal; Randy was bored and he was looking for trouble. And trouble is never that hard to find, even in a small town like Richwood.

Driving through town, Randy can’t help but notice how tired and faded the town looks now. Richwood was bigger and a little brighter when he was a kid, before the Goodyear Tire plant shut down for good, before the biggest and best employer in this part of Tennessee closed the doors and put everybody out of work. Some families had just packed up and moved away; most had stayed and tried to find some other way to make ends meet. Most of the kids he’d gone to school with had left town after graduation and never looked back. Some went off to college, some went to find work. Either way, they left and didn’t come back except now and again at Christmas for a short visit. He didn’t blame them for leaving; he’d leave too if he had some place better to go. Every year there were more vacant houses, more peeling paint and rotting boards, more shops vacant with a little for lease sign in the window, the whole town was just fading away.

Slowing down to turn onto one of the side streets, Randy spots one of his usual customers and slowly pulls up beside him. Leaning over towards the passenger side window, he slides the car up alongside Little Tommy and asks, Hey, you needing anything tonight or are you cool for now?

Tom, who’d heard the car coming, was already fishing in his pockets, Yeah, man. Hook me up… A little bag is all I can get tonight. My rent was due and old man Thompson was waiting to collect when I got home from work. He knew it was payday.

Randy stops at the curb and reaches under his seat and pulls out a little bag of weed for Tommy; they finish their business quickly.

See you soon, Tommy, Randy calls as he pulls away from the curb and heads towards his next stop.

While Randy is cruising around making his deliveries, his older brother Terry is hard at work on the other side of town. A scant two years older, Terry could not be more different if he tried. This afternoon he is repairing a friend’s car. At 24, Terry can do about anything – a jack of all trades. Whether it’s yard work, fixin’ cars, basic carpentry, or maintenance work in town, Terry knows how to do it and is always willing to take on another job.

The sun is beating down on his back as he is bending over under the hood; earlier he was in the shade, but now the sun has shifted enough that his back is starting to burn and he’s covered in about equal parts of sweat and grime. Reaching in just a little too far, he drops the wrench and cursing, straightens up and just stands there, sticking his fist into his back trying to loosen some of the knots. Just as he gets down on the ground and reaches under the car for the wrench, his cell phone rings. Grabbing a rag and wiping off his hands, he reaches for the phone with a smile. This is Sarah’s ringtone and he hasn’t talked to her all day!

Hey there beautiful, when do you get off work? he says with a smile.

Hi, baby. I just wanted to check on you, make sure you weren’t working too hard. And to tell you that I have to work a double again, so I won’t be off until much later tonight.

Terry sighs and wishes she didn’t even have to work at that lousy diner. He wishes he made enough that she could just focus on her singing and getting her career going, he knows she has the talent, she just needs a little break is all. Just one break and she’d be on her way to really making it. Hiding his disappointment he said brightly, What would they do without you? You sure you’re not saying that so you can hang out with old Ben instead of me?

They laugh, it’s an old joke between them; Ben is a regular at the diner and old enough to be Sarah’s grandfather, maybe her great-grandfather, and is an outrageous flirt when he comes in – which is most nights. Always swears that one day she’ll see the light and dump Terry and run away with him; Ben is a sweet old man and always tips well, especially since she always has a ready smile and kind word for him. She plays along and tells him she is still thinking about accepting his offer.

One time last summer when Terry was repairing the front steps at the old man’s house, Ben took him aside and told Terry that he ought to hurry up and marry that girl before someone else came along and did what he threatened to do. Ben had told him that he thought they were suited to one another as he and his wife had been and urged him not to wait, just marry her and be done with it. He hadn’t said anything to Sarah about the conversation; he did plan to take the old man’s advice on marrying her, just not yet. Not until he could offer her something more than what he had now.

"It’s