Page 49 of Rookie Rules

"That is not a medical instruction."

"It's free with the treatment."

When Rowan returned to the locker room, Luca's stall was empty. His towel was in the laundry bin. His shoes were gone. He had left with Eli and Jace without waiting for video.

Rowan had not asked him to wait.

The absence registered before the door finished closing behind them.

Finn remained at his stall, taking unusual care with the laces of his dress shoes.

"Team foundation thing tonight," he said. "Seven."

"I know."

"Just checking. You're having an unusual relationship with time."

"My timing was corrected."

"On the ice."

Rowan looked at him.

Finn tightened one lace and let the subject go. That restraint, from Finn, was almost an accusation.

The event occupied a downtown hotel ballroom, the same hotel the team used for sponsors, charity auctions, and any organizational function requiring chandeliers. Public, crowded, safe. Luca would be there because Claire needed the future of the franchise smiling beside donors. Rowan would be there because captains stood where the organization placed them.

Nothing had to happen.

That was the thought Rowan carried through video, two staff meetings, and the drive home.

At home he completed the prescribed mobility. Heated leftovers. Read three pages of a scouting report without retaining the opponent's forecheck. The silence in the house had always been useful. Tonight it seemed to hold space open for an argument no one else was there to make.

At six fifteen, he opened his closet.

By six thirty, not repeating the kiss remained possible.

Pretending he did not want to was beginning to interfere with everything else.

Rowan chose a dark suit, tied his tie, and put his keys in his pocket.

The ballroom was already full when he arrived. Wolves logos rotated on screens beside photographs of community rinks and youth equipment programs. Donors wore name badges. Players had been distributed through the room like expensive proof that the foundation mattered.

Evelyn Grant intercepted Rowan near the entrance and brought him to a pair of longtime season-ticket holders. He thanked them. Asked about their grandchildren. Remembered the older one's name from the previous year.

Captain was a set of tasks. Rowan knew how to complete them.

Across the room, Luca stood beside Claire under a bank of clean white lights. He wore a charcoal suit and no tie, exactly polished enough to look accidental. A young player from one of the foundation programs was showing him something on a phone. Luca bent to see the screen, listened seriously, then laughed.

The photographer caught the laugh.

Rowan looked away before the flash.

"He'll be good for them," Evelyn said beside him.

Rowan had not noticed her return.

"If he scores," he said.