CHAPTER 6
The visitor’s area on Rikers Island was jam-packed and noisy. Some of New York City’s most brutal criminals were awaiting trial behind those bars, and Sly McFly was one of them.
Honore had left home early so she could catch the bus and ride over the bridge, hoping to be one of the first visitors in line. She hated coming up to this bitch-ass jail. The correctional officers were just as crooked as the inmates that they were paid top dollars to keep locked up. Crime and treachery ran amok just like on the streets up in there, and the prisoners weren’t the only ones who had drugs flowing through the joint like toilet water through shitty pipes neither. You could best believe that the guards were being paid to be mules too, and they were getting a real nice piece of all the action that went in and out of those doors.
For the visit today Honore had braided her long hair in two cornrows and she wore a dull baggy Polo sweatsuit so she would draw less attention to the wide hips and curvy ass she had on her. The last thing she needed was a bunch of corrupt ass COs eyeballing her shit and tryna holla like she was gonna take them in the bathroom and fuck them in a stall.
The visit was taking place in a high-security area, so first Honore had to fill out all kinds of forms and submit to being questioned and thoroughly frisked, and then finally she was allowed to walk across the room to the cubicle and sit down so she could wait for the man himself to walk in and take a seat on the other side of the glass.
It had been a minute since she had seen him last, and as she sat waiting for her handsome godfather, the notorious OG Sly McFly, the anxiety she had been feeling inside for the past few months showed all over Honore’s face.
A few moments later Sly McFly stepped in the room, cool as shit. Unlike the other prisoners he was swinging his arms with no handcuffs on as he joked around and talked easily with the veteran guards who escorted him in.
Honore grinned inside.
Her favorite old-head looked strong and confident up in that bitch. Life on Rikers Island had done nothing to diminish Sly’s swagger or detract from his glow. He was a king-ass lion who looked real comfortable in the concrete jungle and he still had his roar. Sly sat down on a stool and smiled broadly at Honore through the glass before he picked up the phone.
“Damn! You looking happy as fuck to be in the worst place in New York City, nigga!” Honore said sarcastically with a smile on her face. “This must be some real easy time because you over there grinning just like a kid in a damn candy store.”
“You know how I do baby girl,” Sly said smoothly as he laughed at her sarcasm. “I’m just enjoying my lil vacation, ya know? They treat me pretty well in here, as you can see. I’m laid back in this bitch with my feet up not worried about a damn thing. I’m doing my time and not letting the time do me. Now what’s going on that you had to come all the way out here and see me? All you had to do was wait for me to call.”
“Forget waiting. Shit ain’t moving right, Sly,” Honore said, showing her irritation. “Those connects you told me to holla at won’t even acknowledge me because I’m a chick. They won’t let me collect on the debts they owe you so my cash flow is real funny. Plus, me and Cucci gotta step away from all that escort shit because niggas are starting to line us up. Cucci got caught in a bad one and almost got pushed messing around with some greedy-ass hittas the other night. We think somebody on the inside set us the fuck up!”
“Calm your ass down, baby girl,” Sly said gently as his hawk eyes scanned the room. He was a tall, thin man with light skin and long, wavy hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. He was well into middle age, but due to his good genes and disciplined lifestyle, he was strong, fit, and trim. Sly was dressed in the same prison clothes as all the other inmates, but somehow his shit looked regal and boss on him. Like he was wearing royal robes or some shit.
“Is that all you got to say is calm down? You don’t know what it’s been like for us out there on them streets without you, Sly!”
“Don’t worry, lil mama. Everythang is gonna be all right.”
“But I’m telling you shit is getting real funky out there,” Honore insisted. “Without you steering the ship the supply is drying up and all them businesses of yours are veering way off course.”
Sly shrugged coolly. “I said don’t worry about it, baby girl. The streets will always be the streets. Anything I got once, I can get it again. Just take care of yourself and help Cucci hold Frita down until I get out. My court date is gonna be here before you know it and I guarantee you I’m gonna walk outta that courthouse a free man.”
Honore nodded. “I sure hope so because me and Cucci are both broke as hell.”
“She still got her job at that diamond joint, don’t she?”
Honore nodded again. “Yeah, but they don’t hardly pay shit. And like I was saying, we had a lil situation the other night . . .” she started, then her voice trailed off.
“What kind of situation?” Sly leaned forward and probed.
Honore shrugged. “Just some stupidity. Some predator-type niggas got wind of a party we had set up at a hotel and they showed up to crash it. Cucci got fucked, we lost out on some bread, and a drunk white boy got his melon split. So now me and her are both broke again.”
Sly shook his head in disgust. “I wish I could help you out more, baby girl, but you know them federal muthafuckas got my shit all tied up. They seized my houses, my whips, and they ran down on Frita for almost all my cash too.”
“Damn, it’s like that?” Honore was shocked. She had always thought Sly McFly was a legitimate bankroller who had endless dollas stashed away in secret underground vaults all over the big city. His name and “broke” just didn’t even go in the same sentence as far as she was concerned, and to hear him say all his chess pieces had gotten wiped off the board was a real blow to her system.
“Damn, I didn’t know we was doing that bad,” Honore said, miffed and sounding close to tears. “I mean, yeah, Cucci’s still working so she’s holding shit down, and I get a couple of ends from Chimp Charlie ere’now and then . . . but I didn’t know our shit was so crucial, Sly.”
Sly waved his hand at her and grinned. “Don’t even sweat that shit,” he said in a cock-sure tone that always immediately calmed Honore’s anxiety. “Niggas never pay you what they owe you when you locked up. I could get them niggas touched from right here if I wanted to, but I ain’t living like that. I got shit clicking like clockwork in this joint, and as soon as I get out life’s gonna be lovely for all of us again. Y’all just gotta find a way to survive for a little while longer, and then shit will be back to normal. I promise you. Anyway, now you done told me all the bad shit and we got that outta the way. You got some good news for me or what?”
“Not really,” Honore said. “I got fired from my job, though.”
“Fired?” Sly frowned. “Goddamn, baby girl. Seem like you ain’t been working but two goddamn days!”
“Three,” Honore corrected him. “I worked for three days. Nights, really. And then Cucci got caught up in that bullshit and I had to go get her. It was in the middle of the night and I was watching that hollering-ass baby. I couldn’t bring myself to leave the lil guy all by himself, so I took him with me. My boss busted me when he saw me leaving the house on his security video, so he fired me.”
“So whatchu gonna do now? Try to find yourself another gig? What about that jewelry joint where Cucci works? Just tell ya cousin to put you on so both of y’all can make some money.”
Honore’s eyes lit up. “You would think she would look out for a bitch, right? Man, I been tryna get Cucci to gimme the hook-up for a minute now but she be acting all funny-style whenever I bring that shit up! She keeps saying I don’t have no job experience with that type of thang or some shit like that.”
“Neither does Cucci!” Sly bucked, then stared deeply into her eyes. “Look, fuck Cucci. You can suck a dick just as good as she can, right?”
Honore nodded vigorously.
“Then cool. You been properly raised, Honore. When you see something you want don’t you let Cucci or nobody else stand in ya way. Go get that fuckin’ job, baby, and make sure you come out on top! Now, that’s enough for today. I need to get back to running my game. Take heed to what the fuck I said and stay above water until I touch down.”