33|The Trigger Happy Serb

Angry silence followed Marybeth's outburst, and they both looked at the condiment bottles and the salt and pepper shakers on the table until Elijah spoke. "That was low, Beth—"

"Only one man has the right to call me Beth," she said quietly. "And it's certainly not you, Elijah!"

"Still, that was low. I was young."

"You were nineteen. Your moral compass was well in place. You knew I don't handle betrayal and rejection well. You knew me, Eli. You knew about my mother. And yet you turned around and did the same thing she did. You chose someone else over me. You walked away from me. After I was open with you. After I allowed myself to be open to you. So don't sit there and tell me about evil and moral compasses. I know Austin. He never pretended to be anything he wasn't. And I'd take his honesty, as terrifying as he is, over the bullshit you fed me for years, any day!"

"I'm sorry." Elijah reached for her hand, but she snatched it away.

"Unless I broke some kind of law by marrying Austin, I