Page 33 of Rookie Rules

He loaded practice.

The shared goal appeared first because the software remembered where he had stopped.

Rowan changed clips.

He selected neutral-zone exits from the previous scrimmage. Work that belonged to the trip. Work that did not contain Luca turning toward him after a pass.

The heat spread slowly.

The first cycle of heat dulled the tightness without releasing it. Rowan shifted in the chair, stopped when the movement pulled, and waited. He knew this progression. Travel shortened the hip. The unfamiliar mattress added pressure through the lower back. Lack of sleep made every signal louder.

None of it meant injury. None of it meant he could ignore the cost.

He opened Owen's mobility note, read the sequence he had already completed, and closed it. The floor space between the beds was barely wide enough to move without waking Luca. That was a practical reason to stay in the chair.

The more accurate reason was that getting onto the floor required admitting he could not solve this by sitting still.

He watched one exit, then another. Marked a late winger. Rewound a defenseman's first pass.

Behind him, sheets moved.

"You know televisions have larger screens," Luca said into the dark.

Rowan did not turn. "Go back to sleep."

"I was asleep. Then the sun came up."

The tablet cast barely enough light to reach Rowan's hands. "It is one seventeen."

"Your personality is bright."

The joke landed softly. Too softly.

Rowan paused the clip.

Luca sat against the headboard, hair flattened on one side. Without the grin arranged for company, he seemed younger. Not young. Simply twenty-three without the usual performance.

His gaze dropped to the heat wrap cable and returned to Rowan's face.

"Travel," Rowan said.

"I didn't ask."

"You were going to."

"I was deciding whether the captain handbook requires film after midnight."

"It doesn't."

"So this is recreational."

Rowan turned back to the tablet. "Sleep, Bennett."

The bed creaked. Bare feet crossed the carpet.

Rowan heard Luca stop behind him.

"That chair's terrible."