I didn’t like the way he said it. “Marv, are you okay?”
His expression hardened so quickly that I regretted asking.
“What you mean by that?”
“You look upset.”
“I’m straight.” His hand shot through the opening and closed around the edge of the door just as I pushed it back open thinking I was going to rush in and lock him out. I reacted too slowly. He shoved hard enough and the door struck my shoulder and forced me backward.
“Marv, stop!”
He pushed again and my heart slammed against my ribs. “What are you doing?”
“I said I need to talk to you.”
He pushed me herder this time I stumbled back and caught myself against the narrow table in the entryway. My keys slipped from my hand and struck the tile. Marv stepped all the way into the apartment. He stared at the broken chain hanging from the door, then glanced into the hallway. A television played behind a closed door farther down the hall, but no one came outside. Marv pushed my door shut with the heel of his hand and turned the lock.
Fear started in my stomach before spreading upward into my chest. “Why did you lock the door?”
“So we can talk without everybody in our business.”
“There isn’t any business between us.”
His head snapped toward me. The second the words left my mouth, I saw the mistake in them. He moved deeper into the apartment as though he had been invited. His eyes swept across the living room, passing over the couch, the kitchen counter, and the candles that had burned out.
His nostrils flared. “Who been here?”
“What?”
“Somebody been here.”
“No one is here now.”
“That ain’t what I asked.”
I stepped toward the door. “You need to leave.”
Marv shifted before I reached it, placing his body between me and the exit. He didn’t touch me, and he didn’t have to. The difference in our size became impossible to ignore once he blocked the only way out. He dragged his hand beneath his nose again, looked at what remained on his fingers, and rubbed them together. Restless energy moved through his shoulders as he began pacing near the kitchen.
“I found out some shit,” he said.
I tried to keep my voice calm. “What did you find out?”
“Paper been working with Rome.”
My furrowed my brows. “Paper?”
He reached the kitchen and made one sneaker squeak against the floor. “Paper been feeding your husband information. Watching shit, that nigga shot me.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Bullshit.”
I was so confused. “I don’t even talk to Paper.”
“You know him.” Marv laughed and rubbed both palms over his face. “See, that’s what y’all do. Everybody got an answer ready.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
