Page 139 of Rookie Rules

Luca's fingers stilled on the edge of the tablet. Rowan had used the same promise after their first kiss, as though a declaration could erase appetite, fear, or memory.

"What happens instead?" Luca asked.

"We create distance outside the rink until the team stabilizes."

Luca unplugged the cable with deliberate care. "Of course."

"The last two weeks have affected the line."

"Your decisions affected the line."

"Yes. Which is why I am reinforcing the boundaries."

"No one knows. Nothing during team responsibilities. Not a relationship. Ends with the season. Which part was too generous?"

"No dinners for now. No visits to my house. Contact stays professional until this is under control."

Rowan heard himself turn a personal decision into instructions. He continued anyway.

Luca slid the tablet into his bag. "You do not need my agreement."

"I am trying to protect the team."

"The team needed you to make the right pass today."

"I corrected that."

"After Vale made you prove it in front of everyone."

Rowan stepped into the suite but kept the entrance open behind him. "This is also about protecting you. The endorsement will increase scrutiny."

Luca went still.

"Do not make this for me."

"You have not dealt with this level of attention before."

"Then help me when I ask. Don't remove yourself and call it help."

"That is not what I am doing."

"You changed a correct hockey call because you were angry with me. Now you are using that mistake to take away the part of us that exists off the ice. The solution always costs me and leaves your life exactly as it was."

Rowan's hand tightened around the strap of his bag.

Luca's voice remained low. "If you need distance because you're afraid, say you're afraid. If you don't want me, say that. Just don't decide what is good for me and expect gratitude."

Rowan had admitted fear once on his living-room floor. That fear had been about pain, time, and a body he could not command forever. This one required him to admit that Luca mattered enough to alter choices beyond a game.

His throat constricted.

"We need distance," he said.

Luca nodded. The movement was small and final enough to make Rowan reach for another justification.

"The campaign -"

"Is mine to manage."