The Way It Used To Be

I'm getting pretty long in the tooth and have been a avid reader of literotcia for a very long time. I've had this story bubbling around for some time and thought I would write it down for others to enjoy. Thanks for reading.

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Used to be

The story I am about to tell is true. It never made it to the papers and sure as hell never made it to the Duval County District Attorney's Office. A police report was written up once--but it had vanished, saving a handful of folks from scandal... and one young man from spending years staring through prison bars.

Sherifs deputy Cole Braddock was on patrol in southwest Duval County when he got a radio call to head to Eastport in the northeast area of the county. The order was lights and siren the whole way. He dreaded what he would find, there was only one reason he would be called nearly 100 miles to a section of the county where only the lowlife inhabitants wanted to be. Brackish water marshes where mosquitos and snakes had a paradise and a certain type of people enjoyed it as much as their reptile friends.

t was one of those North Florida Friday nights so thick with humidity, you'd swear walking through it took more effort than swimming. The air hung heavy, alive with the buzz of crickets and a distant growl of thunder. Cole Braddock had felt the weight of something coming all afternoon--an unease that settled into his bones and refused to let go.

He couldn't say what stirred the feeling, but it gripped him like a bad omen. And by nightfall, it landed with brutal clarity. Just one lonely patrol car sat parked near the unkempt double wide home, its lights spinning lazily over a scene no one ever wanted to see. Blood soaked into dirt. Something broken lay where it shouldn't have. The chaos didn't shout--it whispered in the way only violence in a quiet town can. And for Cole, it wasn't just another call. It was the moment the job stopped being theory and started being something that would define his life.

It began more than a decade earlier, with Gray Chattem living every southern girl's dream. She was Jackson High's homecoming queen--strawberry-blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and a perfect smile--entangled with Jed Skaggs, the school's golden bad boy destined for NFL stardom. Together, they'd drawn up a future as solid as steel... almost.

Gray Chattem's daddy, Rayland, owned a steel distribution empire, his fortune bolstered by Jacksonville's deep Navy roots--home to half the eastern fleet and two Naval Flight Stations. Steel's a business of grit and grind, full of hard men and harder bargains. But Rayland made sure his daughter never had to wade through that world.

Gray's childhood was curated: polished, pristine, and always on display. She was groomed to be the perfect Southern belle--charming with a honey-sweet smile, yet haughty beneath the surface. She knew how to flutter her lashes at a garden party, how to offer polite laughter to men she'd never respect, and--most importantly--how to keep her distance from the lower classes. You could wave at them from the porch, maybe send a smile if the mood struck. But a seat at the table? That simply wasn't done.

High-school hearts don't always heed family creeds. Freshman year, Cole Braddock fell head over heels for Gray. She liked him back--his quiet southern manners, felt just like home, the way he never bragged but was always there when you needed him. His family was more than acceptable with a father who was one of the top attorneys in Jacksonville. Trouble was, Cole had chosen a different path. Out of high school he drafted into the Navy serving his time as a MP, at 6 and a half feet he was quite the man. He couldn't promise the kind of life Jed Skaggs future NFL star could. Gray figured Jed to be a project, he could be trained. A Southern belle, Gray figured, had to be practical.

So, she aimed her sights on Jed Skaggs --recruited by every SEC school, eventually signing with the University of Florida. To her, college ball was just a pit stop on the highway to the NFL.

They had the perfect plan--right up until prom night. Gray's world shifted that night. She shed her crown, lost her innocence, and by sunrise found herself carrying something she never intended: a secret that would change everything.

Jed Skaggs's childhood teetered on outright delinquency. His father, a raging drunk bound by some old southern trash code, did nothing more than chase the next bottle--beating his wife over imagined slights and thumping his children on a whim. From that brutal household, Jed quietly picked up a few shady tricks to hide injuries from sight and intimidate the injured to keep their fat mouth shut.

When Grey's father learned she was carrying Jed's child, and refused to terminate it, his fury exploded. "No daughter of mine is marrying a lowlife from Eastport" he thundered across the dinner table. Grey, stubborn as her father, met his glare with calm defiance. "We'll see about that," she said. "You and mom are going to love your grandchild. Exactly two weeks later, beneath the humid stain of St. Mary's Georgia courthouse ceiling, Grey and Jed faced a county judge and made their vows official.

Two days later Jed reported to the Gator preseason training camp. He was amazed at how much harder the competition was proving to be. College was proving to be a much bigger challenge than high school ball. Realizing that if he didn't train harder than anyone else, he would be left behind. Jed became a gym rat and bulked up adding 20 pounds of steroid enhanced mussel.

Jed's commitment to the marriage lasted exactly 2 weeks. With coeds throwing themselves at the future NFL star he neither felt loyal to Grey or guilty toward the baby that was on the way. Jed was entranced by all the young nubile girls with no morals and was committed to sampling them all. A few months later, after getting a call from Jacksonville Jed decided he had no interest in his new son and totally ignored his birth and his wife.

The night of Jonah's birth Grey swore she would never let Jed influence his life, like her promises to her dad it proved to be bullshit.

Back in Jacksonville Grey had decided to go to Jacksonville University, a small private college where her pregnancy and the lack of an attentive husband wouldn't be so noticeable. Grey's dad had relented and let Grey stay in their home and to paid for college, hoping that after the divorce Grey would have a way to be self-sufficient. Of course, Grey had to suffer a very large round of I told you so's. Grey sensing an uneasy future elected to go into the pre-law program.

Grey's divorce was silent and painless, it like her marriage barley was noticed.

Meanwhile, Cole Braddock was living up to his reputation as the black sheep of his family. Hard work held little appeal to him, especially anything that demanded discipline or persistence. His father, desperate to instill some structure, arranged for Cole to be drafted into the Navy, where he served four years as a Shore Patrol Police officer--mostly stationed in Japan, where he picked up a bit of martial arts.

After leaving the Navy, Cole's brother--himself a star attorney--pulled some strings and landed Cole a job with the Duval County Sheriff's Office. Devious by nature but undeniably sharp, Cole had no trouble climbing the ranks. Years later, when asked how he maintained such a high case-closure rate, he chuckled and said, "Cops and crooks--we're just opposite sides of the same coin."

Cole continued to live the happy bachelor life. He bedded many single women though he never grew close to any. It was like life had other plans for him. One big change in his life was that he refused to be assigned to the Eastport patrol area, and he had the juice to enforce the ban. He was still bruised about the way Jed had treated Gray, and he wanted nothing to do with the arrogant sob.

One day while replenishing supplies at Publix he ran into Grey. She was very flirtatious and asked all kind of questions about Cole's life and if he was involved with anyone. "Why Grey, I do believe you are flirting with me" Cole laughed. "Well, what if I am" Grey replied, "We are both single, and I have always had a itch for you that needs scratching."

Cole didn't date married women so using his superior detective skills he did a little background check on Grey. He found that she was indeed single and had a son, so Cole asked her out.

Cole and Grey seemed to slide together like chicken and rice, just made for each other. Grey wanted a man more like her father, strong and a little rough around the edges, she really didn't see herself becoming involved with the attorneys she worked around.

Apparently, Jed was never told that NFL isn't the National Football League, instead it really means No For Long and was totally unprepared for the Bengals not renewing his contract after 2 not so great years. He liked the girls, the cars and unlike his U of F days, wasn't fond of the gym. When he had arrived in Cincinnati, he felt that after working so hard in college he deserved a break and wanted to party with a new set of girls. His God given talents worked for the 1st year, but he found out that these players were faster, quicker and bigger than the players he had faced in college.

His second year unraveled fast. Injuries piled up, games slipped away, and no matter how hard he tried--or claimed he did--he couldn't give up the nightlife. He bragged openly in the locker room, reveling in his reputation. Picking up married women became his thrill, the humiliation of their husbands sent his kite soaring. But he hadn't counted on one of those husbands carrying a Colt equalizer.

That night ended his NFL career.

He left his favorite club arm-in-arm with another man's wife, strutting straight toward her husband like he owned the pavement. Instead of backing down, the man pulled a short-barrel.357 mag and shot him clean through the right leg. Given the threatening advance, eyewitnesses, and video footage, no charges were ever filed.

Jed's knees were already compromised and now with a bullet wound the Bengal's took advantage and released Jed. While he was down at the training facility cleaning out his personal effects several of the other players let him know it had been time for him to leave for a while, he was making everybody look bad. As he was leaving, he heard someone say, "don't let that door hit you in the ass."

Jed had spent all his money on flashy cars, nubile women and booze and had nothing to show for his 2 years but horrible headaches, mangled knees, and now a bullet wound.

After his not-so-great career ended, he retreated to form, bought a double wide in Northport and began being the hard drinking low life he was always meant to be. He became a bore to everyone. He could only loudly tell the same stories of what he had done to wives and their husbands so long, he was shunned even by the low life community as a blowhard. He had considered playing with married women again, but the bullet wound served to remind him where that road lead.

After running all his friends away, he developed an interest in the almost forgotten 7-year-old son he had shown no interest in before. He decided he could continue to live the life if he could get Jonah ready for High School ball.

Grey being the southern mom allowed Jonah to train with Jed, thinking having a man other than her own father in his life would be good for the boy. She knew the boy was talented and thought he might have a shot at high school ball.

It seems that after several weekend visits Jed had decided he didn't want to return Johnah on Sunday night when Grey showed up at his double wide to take him home. mostly because he knew Grey would go ballistic over the bruises she would find on the boy. In his opinion the boy needed to know if you don't perform up to expectations there will be pain. So being the entitled jerk he was he not only had smacked the boy but then slapped Grey as well. The country sheriff was called.

When the deputy pulled his patrol car into the wasteland some would call a front yard, he couldn't believe the stand-off taking place. On the one hand you had Grey with Johnah, Grey's son, standing defiantly in front of his mother and on the other you had Jed trying his best to look like the innocent person he wasn't all the while blocking Grey's access to her car, preventing her from leaving.

After the parties separated, the deputy asked Grey what she wanted to do about Jed and being the southern woman she was she just asked to leave and not press any charges against Jed. She just wanted to go home. She had already decided to never let Johnah be alone with his father again.

After Grey left the deputy and Jed had a conversation about how laying hands on the woman, or the child would result in a painful ride downtown to the Sheriff's office where he would face charges for anything he could think up.

It took Jed several weeks of begging, but Grey finally allowed Jed to get Johnah for training again. He was on his best behavior, and it eased the tension between the two.

The problem was that about every 4th visit Jed would lose his slim hold on reality and would lay smack his son for some little infraction. Several times he would slap Grey if she complained too much.

Life went on but Jed was rapidly losing his battle with sanity until one weekend he had not only had smacked Johnah but when Grey arrived, he started beating on her too. Gone were the slaps now he was trying to really do serious damage to Grey, maybe even kill her.

Having gone to work on Grey he lost track of Johnah who ran into the house and got his 410 single shot shotgun out of the gun cabinet. Once back outside he shot Jed once in the back and since that didn't seem to get the job done, he reloaded and shot him again. Jed died right there begging for someone to call for an ambulance and calling for his dead mother.

Once Grey and Johnah were sure Jed was dead the sheriff's office was called and a deputy showed up. Now Deputy Bill Cash wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, after all he patrolled Eastport, but he did have a good survival instinct and figured this was something he wanted no part of. Being a good deputy, he called dispatch, who ended all radio communications, and then called the captain.

The captain realizing this had to be handled very carefully immediately realized Cole was the only person that might be able to keep this problem from turning into a complete train wreck. Cole was smart, very devious and not above skirting the law. In addition, Cole's brother was now the circuit court Judge for Duval County.

So here we are back at the start of the story, Cole dreading why he had been called to Jed's house, lights and siren the whole way. Cole arrived at Jed's house expecting to see Johnah beat up but seeing Grey beat to a pulp broke Cole's heart. He couldn't help it, he had been sweet on Grey for the better part of his life, and dating her for the last year, seeing her mangled body was almost too much for him.

When Grey saw Cole she cried and said, "Oh Cole what are we going to do now?" Cole trying to be calm replied, "Grey I don't know, but we will figure out something."

Cole's first call was to his brother the judge. After about an hour's long consultation it was decided that Cole would call the funeral home instead of calling the sheriff's station first. This gave Grey and Johnah a chance to get back to Jacksonville and get cleaned up. They dressed Grey's wounds and burned Johnah's clothes. When the funeral home showed up in Eastport they informed Cole that they would have to involve the Sheriffs Coroner's Office since it was obvious that Jed had died from 2 gunshot wounds.

Now this may not be right, but it was the way the south at that time worked, Jed's death was ruled suicide and there was no one asking how a man could shoot himself in the back twice with a single shot gun. I guess it went to if you were mean enough then you just needed killing.

Cole continued visiting Grey as she recovered, much to her delight. It took some time but eventually Cole asked Grey to make him the happiest man on earth and marry him. Cole never realized that Grey. her mother, and Cole's mother had been making plans for 6 months, it's a Southern thing.

Grey's dad Rayland wished Cole was an attorney but realized that at least the family was acceptable. Rayland started providing Cole with "opportunities" to make extra money since Grey's lifestyle was so much more than Cole's.

Cole and Grey went on to live a great life together with Grey giving Cole another boy and girl and seeing Johnah become a true NFL star, playing for 12 years then coming back to Jacksonville and using his connections through his mom the lawyer and his dad a high ranking official of the new Jacksonville Police Department, his uncle the Fla. Supreme Court Judge and his grandfather the steel baron.