Page 118 of Rookie Rules

Rowan heard it. Luca saw the recognition.

"Then what are you asking me?" Rowan said.

"If you like it."

"My opinion of the creative?"

"Your opinion of me inside it."

The plain question removed every place to hide except the one Rowan always chose.

He stepped back from the island. "What I like does not matter to the contract."

There it was.

Luca looked at the campaign cover. His own face smiled back, polished and untroubled.

"It matters to me."

Rowan's expression shifted.

Too late.

"Luca, this is your career."

"I know."

"A national campaign gives you leverage independent of the team. Players need that. Careers change. Rosters change."

"Seasons end."

Rowan went still.

"That is not what I meant."

"It's always what you mean. Build the exit before anyone can decide to stay."

"I am trying to protect your options."

"By telling me the version they can sell is harmless because no one technically makes me lie."

"I know how acting works," Luca said. "I've smiled next to products I forgot existed before I reached the parking lot."

"Then you know the image is not a declaration."

"To them, no. To me, maybe not. But you're asking me to ignore why this version earns the biggest offer."

"I am asking you not to let other people's assumptions control your future."

The argument was so close to support that Luca wanted to accept it.

"Would you say the same thing if the campaign put me beside a man?"

Rowan's eyes moved toward the closed blinds.

There. Not disgust. Risk calculation. Who would see. What questions would follow. How quickly work could become disclosure.

"That would be a different decision," Rowan said.