Vinnie reached for a notepad to take notes. “Still being compulsive and organizing your surroundings?”
“Yeah.”
“Now you’re obsessing. It does seem as if Scorpius altered your brain and gave you OCD.” She shrugged. “As far as I know.” She leaned to the side and scowled toward the doorway. “Go away.”
Tace blinked. “You’re still seeing your dead stepmother?”
“Yes, and today she’s dressed as a hula dancer.”
“I don’t think I’m the nuttiest person in this room,” Tace said quietly.
“Not even close, although hallucinations are associated with the Scorpius infection, so maybe I’m normal,” Vinnie said agreeably. “What are you obsessing about?”
Tace frowned and stared at the profiler.
She stared back. “We have patient-doctor confidentiality here.”
Yeah, but she worked for Jax and had a duty to inform him if anybody wasn’t up to mission. He couldn’t be prevented from going on missions. “Just about my job,” he said.
She nodded. “So not about Sami?”
He blinked. “Huh?”
“I might be psychic because I get images from other people, and you’re all but broadcasting Sami all the time.” Vinnie scribbled on her notepad. “Plus, Lynne said something is up between you and Sami. That you wouldn’t let her leave the surgical area until you were finished with Damon.”
“Lynne has a big mouth,” Tace said, not wanting to discuss new possible psychic abilities, which he did not believe in.
“Yes.” Vinnie looked up, and her eyes focused on him. “We all like to gossip. Jax is worried you and Sami lied to him about a physical relationship.”
A rock dropped into Tace’s gut. “We didn’t lie. We don’t have a physical relationship.”
“Do you want one?”
He opened his mouth but couldn’t find the right words. They’d already gone down that path, but it was supposed to be a onetime deal and didn’t constitute a relationship. Did he want one? “I don’t know. But I think about her all the time.”
“Well, it might be obsession.” Vinnie rubbed out a crease in her skirt. “But the beginning of any crush, of any relationship, involves some sort of obsession.”
He sat straighter. “Really?”
“Sure. That’s why they’re called crushes. We build up imaginary connections and then get smashed by reality.” She smiled.
He frowned. “I’m not sure that’s helpful.”
“I’m not really a shrink,” she whispered, her eyes twinkling. “Seriously, do you want to harm Sami in any way?”
“No.”
“Then why not explore your feelings? Relax a little and stop fighting them, and perhaps you’ll stop obsessing.”
As advice went, it wasn’t horrible, but the doc had a definite romantic streak that was showing. “What if it changes? I mean, I’m getting darker each day, and what if I end up wanting to wear her skin as a suit?”
Vinnie laughed, the sound high and almost tinkly. “That’s funny.”
His frown deepened until he felt it down his neck. “No, it isn’t.”
She sighed. “Listen. You’re definitely a darker guy than you were, but the world is a darker place than it was. If you don’t want to harm Sami, you won’t. Stop worrying about that.”
“I can’t hurt her. I can’t let her down.” His chest thumped hard.
