_Nathan’s POV_
The worst part of facing the Growlers again was not the rivalry.
It was that Miles already knew too much and still not enough, and every public second between us now carried the annex behind it like a second scoreboard.
In the locker room, Theo dropped onto the bench beside me while I taped my stick. “You good?”
“I’m playing.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
I kept my eyes on the tape. “If I start answering the real one before a face-off, I’ll take it onto the ice.”
Theo exhaled. “Then leave it in the tunnel at least.”
I couldn’t.
Warm-ups made that obvious. Miles was across the rink in white and dark trim, moving through drills with hard efficiency, and every time our lines crossed at center the air changed. Not theatrical. Exact. He looked at me once over the boards d
