Margaret

“There are few things more confusing than going to war with parents who are diminishing you, particularly when you are very young. If you fight for your dignity, you risk losing the love you need from them to develop. If you don’t fight back, you lose your self-respect”
― Jeff Brown, An Uncommon Bond

“You aren't in love with me."
She blinked. "I'm not?"
"No," he said emphatically. "You just think you are. You're confused," he explained...
She knew where he was headed. "I see."
"Transference."
"I'm sorry?"
"It's called transference. It's kind of like a patient falling in love with a doctor. It's not real," he stressed.
"That's what I'm suffering from?"
"Not suffering, honey," he said. "But I do think you've confused gratitude for love."
She pretended to ponder the possibility for a long minute and then said, "I believe you might be right."
"You do?" He sounded a little stunned.
"Yes, I do." She said more forcefully.
He wanted confirmation. "So you realize you don't love me."
"That's exactly what I realize," she told him. "It's that transference thing all right. I was confused, but I am not any longer. Thank you for clearing it up for me."
He shot her a hasty glance. "That was pretty damn quick wasn't it?"
"When you're right, you're right."
"That's it?" He was suddenly furious with her and didn't care that it showed. Damn it, she had told him she loved him, and after a one-minute argument, she caved. What the hell kind of love was that? "That's all you have to say?"
"No, actually there is just one more thing I'd like to mention."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"You're an idiot.”
― Julie Garwood, Heartbreaker

“But one look at Wildcard's face, and he knew there was trouble.

Problem? he signaled.

Wildcard responded with an obscene gesture that more than conveyed his opinion that not only was this a problem, but it was a big problem.

...

"Okay". That was not anywhere near the complete reaming Muldoon imagined "We'll take a different route down."

"We could", Wildcard agreed. "But they've got a prisoner.."

Oh man, that hurt. Dream op to nightmare...Muldoon gritted his teeth and considered his options.

"Holy fuck", Wildcard said. "When I tell you that a stupid ass French photog is going to turn this perfect op into a total clusterfuck, what you say sir, is 'Oh, holy fuck'. If this isn't the time to use your full adult vocabulary, Lieutenant, I honestly don't know what is".”
― Suzanne Brockmann, Into the Night

“Society was built on a foundation of fear, not authenticity. I get too numb when I join the world. I lose my openness, my access to the divine.”
― Jeff Brown, An Uncommon Bond