Free The Problem With Jordan by Joannie Kay

before she got so she could barely move, she was a hard worker. We never had much, but we never owed no one, neither. That’s why I don’t believe that banker when he says Aunt Hermione owed him money. I want proof.”
    “So do I. I bet there isn’t anything in writing.”
    “I’m glad you’re on my side, Cray. As the newcomer, I figured you for an easy mark to fend from. I was wrong.”
    “Thank you, I think.”
    “It was a compliment,” she assured him as he jumped down from the wagon and came around to help her down.
    “Come on inside.” She opened the door that was barely hanging on its hinges, and then she gasped in outrage. The furniture, such as it was, was lying on the floor, splintered and broken. Her aunt’s rocking chair was destroyed, the pillow she kept on the seat, ripped open and the feathers scattered everywhere. The precious few books she owned were ripped apart. Dishes were broken, too.
    Cray pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her, hating whoever dared to tear her home apart. No, it wasn’t much, but it was hers and whoever did this was going to answer to him.
    “Who did this, Cray?” she tearfully asked, and then sobbed when her green eyes fell on her aunt’s bible lying on the floor in the midst of broken glass. She pulled free of Cray and hurried to pick it up. “Oh no!” Jordan cried out in dismay and pain. “Just look! Aunt Hermione’s bible!”
    “Is it salvageable?” he questioned, gently taking it from her hands and trying to shake out the shards of glass from between the pages.
    “I am so mad right now!” she said, and then she marched from the room and to the only bedroom in the place. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain on the back of her head. Jordan saw stars and then everything went black.
    “You BITCH !” Cray heard a man’s voice say and he hurried to get to Jordan. “I’ll have you now, and then you can explain to that fancy newcomer a real man had you!”
    Ike Kellogg was so busy unbuttoning his pants, intent on his business with Jordan, that he didn’t realize that she had not come to the shack alone. Cray was enraged at the hatred contorting the man’s face as he looked down at the unconscious Jordan and raised his hand to slap her. Cray grabbed Ike and threw him across the room.
    “You son of a bitch! You took Jordy from me! Folks knowed I was breakin’ ’er in to make ’er mine.”
    “I know that you tried to rape her and her Aunt Hermione beat you off of her and told you not to come around again. You leave now, Ike, or I’m going to give you a lesson you’ll never forget.” Cray was furious, and wanted to beat the man senseless, but he also wanted to check on Jordan and take care of her. She might need to see a doctor.
    Ike wasn’t about to leave. He wanted what was his! He grabbed his knife, the one he was using to slash open pillows and destroy everything in Jordan’s home, and lunged at Cray with it. Cray stepped aside at the last moment and Ike was carried forward by his own momentum. He crashed into the wall, shoving the outstretched knife into his stomach. Ike screamed as he fell to the floor in agony. “I’m dying! Help me, I’m dying!” he screamed.
    “There’s nothing I can do, Ike. You are dying, and you should use what little time you have left to make peace with your maker,” Cray told him matter-of-factly.
    The man sobbed and cursed and blamed Jordan and if not for the fact he was dying, Cray would have belted him in the mouth. Cray moved to check on the redhead and was thankful when all he found was a bump on the back of her head. She moaned and opened her lovely green eyes.
    “What happened?” she asked. “My head hurts!”
    “Ike Kellogg hit you and was planning to rape you. He tried to come at me with his knife and then fell on it. He is dying and he won’t be a threat any longer.”
    “He’s the one who tore up Aunt Hermione’s things?” she whispered forlornly.
    “He did.” A glance at the man told him