Hanging by a Moment

This is a romance that contains sexual scenes. It that offends anyone's sensibilities I advise you to find another story to read. It might not begin very explicit but future chapters certainly will. For those who do read it, thank you and your comments are always welcome. I hope you will enjoy.

The Dirty Spur was your typical small town western bar. It was crowded with drinking cowboys and plenty of short-skirted, tank- topped buckle bunny types. The air was heavy with cigarette smoke, the smell of stale cooking grease and pheromones. To Jack, it was the first sight of home. Home, he sighed, taking everything in. It was a humbling thought for a man who just spent the last fifteen years of his life in a federal penitentiary.

They didn't take things like murder lightly these days and good behavior with some of the men that he'd served with was just asking too much of a single human being, or at least one that wants to survive. Jack closed his eyes, fighting back all the memories he'd rather have stayed back at Fairfield in the eight by eight cement cell. Yeah, fifteen years on the inside does something to a man.

Music blared, pool balls clinked on their respective tables, hoots and hollers randomly screeched over the thrall of milling people. A mechanical bull whined in the back coroner entertaining, what Jack thought had to be some tourists, they were wearing ridiculous cowpoke outfits, probably just passing through town on their way to a rodeo somewhere he thought.

No familiar faces grabbed his attention, which could be a good thing considering, he guessed. Most people aren't too friendly with a cold blooded murder, especially a convicted cold blooded murder. No matter that the man convicted was innocent. Damn them to Hell. Fifteen years' worth.

He could still see the blood staining his hands, the coppery smell in his nostrils, it was something he'd never forget. He'd been at a party, a barbeque really, celebrating his neighbor Clark Biggs, success at being elected mayor. Everyone from Mason had been at the Forbidden Springs Ranch, that night. He had sat with his Mama and Cole at a picnic table decorated in Fourth of July red, white and blue. The younger boys, twins, Jason and Trey, had jumped out of the truck and joined some of their friends from school. Rush was a baby of three, and Aunt Grace had stayed back at the ranch with him and Jack's Grandma. His grandma had Alzheimer's and couldn't be left by herself.

Most of the time she didn't even know who she was, much less who his Mama and Aunt Grace were. Rush had been just getting over a stomach virus, so Aunt Grace had told his Mama that she didn't mind watching him for a little while. Truth was Aunt Grace always spoiled him and his brothers to death. It was the saddest thing, Aunt Grace was one of the nicest, most motherly people Jack had ever met, but she was never blessed with any babies of her own to spoil.

Jack had just turned 21 the week before, and was planning to take full advantage of the legal consumption of booze. His best friends, Ethan York and Cody Harper were supposed to meet up with him and Cole who was just ten months younger, to go to Clare Biggs, the newly appoint mayor's only daughter's party out at the old saw mill. Mama had been fine with it, saying she could use the peace and quiet of the trip back to the ranch.

Jack could understand that, Quincy Mackenzie was a right out and out bastard. Jack couldn't count the number of times he'd have to pull the fucker off his Mama. Quincy had put her in the hospital just as many times. Not only that but he wouldn't let his Mama rest in between babies, Jack had four brothers, but his Mama had suffered ten miscarriages. The Bastard wouldn't stop beating her even though she was pregnant. Still there was ten months separating Jack and Cole. There was nine months between Cole and the twins. Rush really was the baby with twelve years separating him from Jack.

Before Ethan and Cody found Jack and Cole, True Prescott, Jack's high school sweetheart and girlfriend had come running up to him. Said she had something to tell him. Judging from the worried look on her face Jack knew it wasn't something he was going to like. True had asked him to meet her upstairs in Claire's bedroom before he went with the others to the mill. That was the last clear memory Jack had of that night, well until he had woken up next to the bled out body of Krista Parker.

Before he could even wake enough to make sense of what he was seeing someone broke the door to the room down and a whole group of people came rushing in. They'd found him lying butt-ass naked, covered in Krista's blood. Krista's throat had been cut so deep that she'd almost been decapitated. They'd found scratch marks all along Jack's body, which correlated with the DNA they'd found under Krista's fingernails. Plenty of witnesses, a hunting knife with his prints and no evidence to say otherwise, they had sentenced him to twenty five years jail time, fifteen years for parole for good behavior. It had been an open and shut case.

No one had thought to test Jack's blood for drugs. No one had thought to take his statement of what he remembered for anything but a lie. No one thought to ask the person who had been sending him letters, these last fifteen years, protesting his innocence and claim that there was proof to the Jack's innocence. It was simply to the Police Officers, the lawyers, the jury and the newspapers. A murder had occurred at a newly elected politicians home, his daughter's own bed none the less. No one had wanted to open a can a worms of that size.

The high pitch giggles of a group of girls at a table close to him snapped Jack back to the present. Jack was a little over six-two, and close to two hundred-fifty pounds of pure muscles. So the crowded bar didn't really hinder him from slowly making his way to the bar. The bartender was a young woman maybe mid twenties, tall, slender and definitely overworked. Her face, though haggard and pale, was round with soft cheeks, full lips, and the deepest blue eyes Jack had ever seen.

Her dark brown hair was piled high on her head with a silver and turquoise clip, except for the strands that hugged her left cheek. Jack didn't even want to think about how that hair would feel grasped in his hands, while he gave the girl what would probably be the roughest fuck of her life. He could just see the lust scream out of her ocean blue eyes, and he could hear the moans and whimpers of ecstasy mumble from her cock-sucking swelled lips.

As he saw those lips move, he watched her adjust her bra straps, which just drew his attention to the non- existent neck line where two of the hottest round swells a man could dream of lay practically open for view, at least where he was standing. It caused his dick to surge three times its normal size, throbbing and on fire. Oh god. He was in trouble. Jack was so absorbed in his fantasy and fighting the urge to cum in his pants, that he didn't hear what she was saying until she was screaming at him. Oh God.

"Hey Mackenzie, I don't have all night, order something already or get lost." That seemed to snap him back to reality. "Water, please." With a huff the girl slammed down what he hoped to be a clean glass and started pouring a rich brown liquid into it from a bottle she'd pulled from beneath the bar. "Yeah right, water. You know Rush is floating around here somewhere, he never mentioned that you where home."

It took a minute for Jack to understand what she was saying, he was trying to figure out why Rush, His baby brother would know that he was here. It had been fifteen years since he'd seen the boy, the only family that came to visit had been Cole, and Ethan York . Everyone else in the family had disowned him the second the judge's gavel fell.

Than he recalled she'd called him Mackenzie earlier too. He gave her a strange cautious look, "You know me? You know who I am?" The girl just gave him an impatient and glaring ''go to hell" and turned to the other customers, obviously not happy with him. Which puzzled Jack even more. He was going to question her further when a force knocked him into the bar.

He reflexively swung around fists ready, only to encounter a full-fledged knock-out, drag-out, fist fight tearing through the bar. Those not quite that drunk yet managed to form a circle around the brawlers, eagerly cheering on the destruction. Jack picked the unstable fighter that had bumbled into him up by the shirt front and tossed him back into the middle of the foray.

The girl stopped serving drinks and started yelling herself. "Tyler! Tyler! Get your ass out here. Tyler!" She seemed to be yelling at the right side of the bar. It wasn't until the wall came slamming out like a door that obviously was an office, he realized that she'd been calling out for back-up. A man came barreling out with a 20 gauge pump action shotgun and Jack had no doubt this man Tyler could handle the poor slobs groping and slapping each other around, the man was a bruiser. He had to be six-four two hundred twenty pounds of solid Kick-Ass.

Jack had taken pride in his weight training while in prison, after all there wasn't much to do on the inside, not to mention it was the only self-defense an eighteen year old boy had against some of the meanest, nastiest, dirt bags in Wyoming. It had more than paid-off to, those sons of bitches learnt real fast that Jack Mackenzie was not going down without a fight. That's not to say he hadn't had his ass handed to him those first five years, but he took every hit and got back up and fought that much harder. Sure there had been times that he'd spent weeks at a time in sick bay, but not fighting back would have made things that much worse.

Jack shuddered, that wasn't his life anymore, he had to start letting go. He guessed his parole officer was right, baby steps. Which reminded him that his priorities where to help his family not waste any time in a bar, not to mention that if he got caught anywhere near a bar fight when the sheriff came that it could be seen as breaking parole.

Jack swallowed hard, the room was closing in around him, his vision was a dark tunnel, he blinked dazed, breathing hard, and he had to get out of here fast. The girl obviously had enough help, so Jack laid a ten on the bar, turned toward the door and made his way through the crowd in a rush to the parking lot. The heavy metal doors hit the outside wall hard. He gasped dragging in ragged wisps of fresh air. Freedom.

The relief was short lived however as he heard the rising vocals of a couple of angry teenagers, directly in front of him in the parking lot. They were standing by some pretty impressive vehicles for kids there age to be driving, it was more usual for the parents to let teens use their ranch trucks, beat up, seen better days, old part trucks.

Mason, Wyoming was a small town in population but it still had miles and miles of dirt roads, gutted with ruts and mountain runoff from the snows and rain storms that were the normal weather around there. Jack just shook his head, so much had changed. He felt like a foreigner in a new country, yeah there were some similarities in the place and way of life that he'd left behind, but the changes he'd seen so far were drastic, almost cruel. He'd lived for this dream of home, of safety in the things he knew and loved, it was what held him to his sanity, but it seemed like everything else in his 36 years on this earth, disappointing.

"I'm telling you, Rush, you better shut that god damn fag mouth of yours, or Price will shut it up permanently for you."

Jack snapped his attention back to the teenagers. How many kids could have the name Rush and be his baby brothers age? Jack listened, trying to verify that it was his brother.

" I told you Avery, I haven't said a fucking thing, You think I'm that stupid? Price doesn't have a fucking thing to worry about concerning me, I'm not a god damn snitch." Jack closed his eyes, and groaned no, no, no, no. Rush no. Hadn't the little idiot learned anything from Jack?

" All I'm saying dude, is you better be careful, word is Price has his eyes on you for those Feds picking up Karl and Harmon, when they were down in New Mexico. It's one thing to mess with Price, but everyone knows better than to mess with his family. He'll kill you if you try to cheat him out, he'll make it to were you wish you were dead if you mess with his brothers." The speaking teen slapped the other taller teen, on the shoulder. Jack watched as the taller teen's shoulders slumped and he backed into the glow of a street lamp, giving the other boy room to climb into his truck and drive away.

Jack had to blink, and to remember to breathe. The boy standing there looked the very image of his younger self. All the Mackenzie's bred true. Tall, dark brown almost black hair, strong jaws, and rare emerald green eyes. Rush.

Jack must've said the boy's name out loud, because the boy turned a startling gaze toward him.

"I know you mister?"

Jack laughed, then frowned, it wasn't really funny he guessed, sad when he truly thought about it. Jack noticed Rush walking over to a silver truck, that looked brand fucking new, straight off the assembly new. Which just pissed Jack off even more. Cole had made no bones about how hard things were out on the Three rivers, the family ranch, Hell he knew it was all Cole could do just keep it from foreclosure and food on the family's table. Rush, the fucking moron, was in deeper than Jack could have even guess at.

Donavan Price wasn't your typical bad guy, he was a really bad guy. Jack had been aware of that when he was Rush's age. Damn the boy.

"Look mister, if you're looking to score, I'm fresh out, better luck next time man." Rush was climbing in to the driver's seat, not even taking notice of Jack charging the few feet separating him from the boy. Before he could close the door Rush found himself being pulled out of the truck and slammed onto the hood of the truck head first. Hard.

"You sorry son of a bitch. Drugs Rush? Really, as if you couldn't learn from my mistakes, you had to go and get into drugs?" Jack was pissed. "You fucking little bastard. Does Cole know what you're up to? What about Mama? What does Mama say about losing another one of her boys to Fairfield?"

Rush squirmed, pushed, kicked, and fought with every ounce of fight in him to get lose from Jack's hold. Jack just slammed his face back down on to the hood of the truck, blood trickling from Rush's nose. Rush let lose a howl, Jack wasn't sure but he'd bet that Rush's nose was broken now.

"Your fucking stupid fucker, nobody talks about my mama, nobody. I'll kill you, you fucking bastard." Rush screamed, his face was a mess, it was swelling, and his tears mixed with the blood from his broken nose. "Fucker!"

"Listen dumb-ass, I wasn't talking about mama, I just asked you how she felt about you, being one stupid, dumb-ass step from taking the cell I just left at Fairfield. Because I got to tell you, after doing fifteen years in the joint, it doesn't have anything to recommend it. Room service sucks, not to mention the view could definitely be improved, concrete is not a favorite of mine."

Rush sniffed and then cried some more from the pain. In a whiny voice, way too young to belong to someone looking at jail time for drug charges, he asked "Just who the fuck are you man? I told you..." but he didn't have time to finish. Jack spun the boy around, and looked him dead in his matching green eyes. "I'm your brother, Rush. I'm your brother."

Random emotion shone through the boys eyes. One of questioning, one of fear, than one of knowing as the boy took in Jack's familiar features. "Jack?"

Jack laughed, the lost little boy looking up at him, was something he would be forever grateful for. It touched a place in Jack's soul, that he'd thought was long ago dead, never to be resurrected. This little boy was his brother.

"Yeah, Rush, its Jack." Jack pulled the boys thin shoulders into a bear hug reassuring Rush, and in a way himself to. God, he'd never take his family for granted ever again.

Rush pushed himself away from Jack, and clutched his nose again. "You fucker, you broke my nose."

Rush watched a dark look come over his brother's face. The brother that had just apparently gotten out of the Pen for murder. Fear spiked through his body.

"Rush, we've got a lot to talk about. A lot to catch up on, I know that, shit I haven't seen you since you were three years old. I understand we have to a lot to learn about each other, but I am your eldest brother and I'm home now, which means God and Mama willing I'm going to take up my share of responsibility around the ranch and more importantly in the family." Jack paused watching the boys face as he absorbed every word of what Jack was saying. The kid definitely didn't have a poker face, he was an open book. " I'm not going to be coming in all gong-ho and start ordering you and the others around, that's not what I'm saying Rush. Your eighteen years old, in the eyes of the law you're an adult. Your actions are your own, and so are your consequences."

Rush had a goofy smile, which was morphed into something even funnier due to his face swelling and bruised. It didn't help the matter any that his nose was still lightly bleeding.

"Tilt your head back, it'll stop the bleeding faster. And before we get off subject with more of your whining, I am going to put a stop to this drug dealing." Jack stopped Rush's obvious coming comments by raising his hand in command. "It's not up for discussion Rush. No more drug dealing, PEROID. You understand?"

Rush's attitude turned mutinous. "You can't tell me what to do you cock-sucking convict, the only reason I'm selling drugs is to pay the bills, Cole's doing everything he can driving a thousand miles out of the way just to find potential buyers for our horses and cattle for pennies on the dollar Jack. He takes any job that comes up, which is only the ones that nobody else around here want to dirty they're hands with. Cole's practically worked himself to death." Jack could tell Rush needed to get it all out and off his chest, so he stood still, quiet, staring his brother in the eyes the whole time, giving him his due.

"You want to know why? Because no decent person wants a dirty murdering Mackenzie working for them, or to buy they're horse and cattle, after all everything they touch is contaminated, between you and dad, there's nothing in this place for a Mackenzie." Rush was crying again and trying his best not to sniffle while he went on with his rant. "Jason joined the Navy right after your sentencing, sends his pay home ever chance he gets. Trey competes at every rodeo that'll have him, though there far and part, no one wants the kind of bad publicity a Mackenzie brings, bad for ticket and merchandise sales you know. So what he can't compete in he tries to hire on as clean up and taking care of the animals, he sends what he cans too."

Jack nodded, " I know Rush, I know. Cole has sold his soul and more to save the ranch, no one knows that more than I. You have no idea how it kills me that I have added to the burden you all have had to carry. And I know you wouldn't have been involved with drugs if you didn't feel you had to be." Jack stopped, and with his voice no more than a whisper asked "Are you...do you take drugs? Is it a habit for you Rush?"

Rush glared. "Fuck you man, no. I don't take none of that shit or anything else for that matter. I'm not stupid, I see all those idiots that can't live without their next fix, the things they'll do for just one hit..." Rush stared at the ground. "It's the devil's own ambrosia. I feel dirty and corrupt just pushing the stuff. But Mama's been sick and the cost of her meds are outrageous.''