Page 59 of Rookie Rules

Luca glanced at him. "Of course you remember."

Rowan remembered the score, the failed clear in the second period, and his father's hand at the back of his neck after the photograph. He did not offer any of it.

Luca moved on without asking.

That restraint registered too.

At the kitchen island, Luca chose the stool nearest Rowan rather than the one across from him. Rowan remained standing.

The position felt like authority. That was why he chose it.

"We keep this private," Rowan said.

Luca accepted the glass. "This."

"No one on the team knows."

"Okay."

The agreement came too quickly.

Rowan had prepared explanations about locker-room trust, media distraction, and power imbalance. Luca denied him the protection of using any of them.

Luca rotated the glass once against the stone. "Private means we don't announce it. It doesn't mean you get to manufacture a woman if someone asks why you're busy."

"No one will ask."

"That was not an answer."

Rowan disliked hypotheticals because they allowed fear to dress as planning. This one was specific enough to require a decision.

"I will not invent anyone," he said.

"And you don't make me lie for you."

"I would not ask you to."

"You might ask without using those words."

Rowan's hand tightened around the counter. "If someone asks, you can say your personal life is private."

"Mine. Not ours."

"For now."

Luca released the glass. The small click against stone made the agreement feel more formal than Rowan intended.

"For now," Luca said. "But if a sponsor wants to sell me as available, or somebody decides a fake date would be convenient, we discuss it before either of us says yes."

"Agreed."

It was the only rule Luca had supplied. Rowan noticed that he had called it an agreement while calling his own terms rules.

"Nothing happens during game responsibilities," Rowan continued. "Not at the rink. Not before games. Not when the line needs focus."

"Very responsible."

"I mean it."