Page 82 of Wandering Wild

He wasn’t talking to me before. Now he may never do so again.

The thought makes my stomach churn, but I force my worries about Maddox aside when Gabe and I reach my door, because he turns to me, his face suddenly grave.

“I need you to know that I never would have agreed to Hawke leaving you alone if I’d thought for one second that it would lead to the dangers it did,” Gabe says, his dark eyes solemn. “I’m aware that I’m considered a shark in this industry, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you like a son, and seeing you on the bank of the river, not breathing...” His big body shudders, before he goes on, quieter, “I wish you’d told me about the DUI. I understand why you didn’t, but I still wish you had. Promise me that if anything like that ever happens again, you won’t keep it from me. We’re a team, kid. You have to tell me these things so I can have your back. Understood?”

I shuffle my feet, my residual anger vanishing in the face of his concern.Thisis why he’s been my agent for the last six years—because despite his merciless business decisions, he cares for me deeply. And I care for him, which is why I say, “You still have a lot of groveling ahead, but for my part, I’ll try to be more honest in the future.” I can’t help adding, “I also want it on record that I’m not doing any more reality television. Not even a cooking show. I’m drawing a line.”

Gabe chuckles, his solemnity gone. “Noted.” Then an unexpected spark enters his eyes. “I have one last surprise for you.”

I groan. “I’ve already had too many of those today. Can we not?—”

“You’re going to like this one.” He opens the door to my suite. “Or rather, these two.” My brow furrows, but before I can ask what he’s talking about, he finishes, “See you all in an hour.”

Then he’s pushing me through the door and closing it behind me without an explanation.

But I don’t need one.

Because the next thing I know, Summer is tackling me, her blond hair flying as she leaps into my arms, her jade-green eyes full of tears as she cries, “Don’t youeverdo anything as stupid as this trip again, you idiot!”

The wind is knocked out of me from the force of her attack, but even if it wasn’t, I’d still have trouble breathing at the sight of the other person standing in my hotel room.

Because Maddox is here, leaning against the wooden post of my bed frame, his copper-colored hair a familiar tousled mess, his caramel eyes locked on mine.

“ThankGodfor Charlie!” Summer continues shrieking into my ear. “I take back everything I said about you falling for a fan—she’s thebest, and sheliterallysaved your life. She’s alsosoout of your league, but luckily for you—” She trails off when she realizes I’m frozen against her, and slowly pulls away, her eyes darting between me and Maddox. “I’ll, uh, give you two a moment.”

And then she ducks into the bathroom, leaving me alone with my best friend for the first time in three months.

I have no idea what to do. No idea what to say. My heart races wildly as I stare at him, recalling everything I shared with Charlie about the night of my DUI—my truth, but also his truth. His mental health struggles, his suicide attempt... I revealed his most painful secrets to the world, betraying his trust to an audience of millions. It doesn’t matter that I did it unknowingly. The footage aired live, the damage instant—and irreversible.

I need to apologize, to beg his forgiveness for exposing his private life so publicly, but my lungs have seized, stealing my breath, and all I can manage is to wheeze out a lame, “Hey.”

For a long, agonizing minute, he just looks at me. But then tears fill his eyes and a shuddering breath leaves him, and suddenly, he’s marching across the room and yanking me into a rib-cracking embrace.

“God, I’m so sorry, Zan,” he rasps out, his normally smooth voice rough with emotion. “For all of it—for everything. That night, and all the weeks since then. I can’t—I don’t—” He shudders again, this time against me.

I’m a statue in his arms, afraid to move in case I wake up and discover this is a dream.

Maddox’s voice remains hoarse as he continues, “I should have returned your calls, but I was so ashamed. You were right when you told Charlie that I hated myself for putting you in that position after what happened to your parents, but it was more than that. I was embarrassed by what I nearly did that night, by youknowing, and I—I was worried you would think me weak or—or—hell, I don’t even know. I was so lost in my own head that I couldn’t see beyond the darkness gripping me. But I should have let you in. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I should have—I should have?—”

He stops speaking only to pull me tighter against him. My bruised chest is screaming but I embrace him just as fiercely, tears filling my own eyes at the realization that my best friend flew halfway across the world to see me, that he’s not mad at me, that he doesn’t hate me for what happened—any of it.

But even realizing all that, I still need to make sure he knows how sorry I am.

“What I said, everything I revealed—” I begin, but he doesn’t let me finish.

“Don’t,” Maddox says, pulling away and swiping at his cheeks, his serious eyes catching mine. “Firstly, you didn’t know you were being filmed. And secondly, I’m not hiding anymore. I should have spoken up and gotten help sooner. If my story can make one person do that, or just make them feel less alone, then I’m glad the world knows. Iwantthem to know.”

Relief slams into me, eclipsed only by my pride in him. But then it hits me anew that he’s standing before me, after three long months of radio silence, and I croak out, “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

His face softens with understanding. “As soon as I got your message about doing this trip, I booked a flight. I may have been icing you out, but I still knew how hard this would be after everything with your parents, and I couldn’t not be here for you.”

Hearing that, fresh tears fill my eyes. But he’s not done.

“I was halfway over the Pacific when the show started streaming, so I was already on the ground when it all went to hell. Summer, too, since she decided to cut her Maldives trip short to meet me here, saying it’d be fun to surprise you. She arrived right before you and Charlie fell from the waterfall.” Maddox closes his eyes, as if that memory haunts him, but then rallies and continues, “We tried to shake some sense into Hawke’s team, and I nearly came to blows with Gabe, but they wouldn’t budge about bringing you back in. I don’t think Sum or I have slept since you and Charlie had to go off on your own. That was nail-biting television, man.”

“Apparently that was the point,” I say, recalling everything Hawke, Bentley, Scarlett, and Gabe told us. “And while I hate the way we were manipulated, it paid off. I’ve officially been given the green light for Titan.”

The bathroom door bursts open and Summer flies through it, her screaming words proving she could hear everything we said through the thin walls. “YOU GOT TITAN?”

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