Chapter 5

A light rain was falling but it was not one of those all-day affairs. In fact, by the time Amy and Diego showed up at the marriage mill over on Tropicana, there was already a line waiting to get processed. They filled out the paperwork and paid the fee which was real reasonable considering the way some of the scammers tried to fleece the tourists stewed to the gills in the middle of the night.

Amy looked at the female-in-charge and saw her yawn from what was probably a long night. She had that little slouch that gave away her preference for taking it up the rear door entry. For some insane reason, it started her thinking about Diego's equipment and she concentrated on pushing that erotic thought from her uncooperative mind.

They were finished with that business in less than an hour even down to the messy kiss that Diego insisted must be performed. She was not amused when the determined little guy forced his lively little tongue down her throat in front of witnesses. Still, it was only his tongue and not his big boy sleeping down south below his belt.

There was a fucking ticket on the SUV when they got back outside. The meter maid smiled at them with one of those "Got ya motherfucker" looks that needed to be wiped off with a size 12 boot. Amy wondered why she had the word "fuck" running though her mind a lot now and decided it was because she wasn't getting any and really had not been laid by a man for a long, long time. Her confused images of her less than faithful spouse and her years of submissive obedience had created a love/hate scenario in her mind that probably made her cautious about forming any new relationships in that area. One thing was sure; Mister Diego "big cock" Gonzalez was definitely not getting lucky tonight even if he was her legal husband for the next six months.

Before starting anything else, they went over to the courthouse for Clark County and got their papers registered keeping copies for their documents. She immediately changed her name on all of her contacts by pushing the button she had programmed to enter the new requests to every account on her lists. She heard Diego telling his family that he was now on his way to legal documents even if it did mean he had a gringa wife. Not that she spoke Spanish or anything, it was just the gisting of words and the way he laughed when he talked like that. She could tell he was dissuading his family to expect a visit anytime soon and when he hung up she could see he was upset.

"None of my business!" Amy admonished her weak sister line of thought from her mind. She pulled the list of rentals from her pocket sitting right next to her little gun. Some of the oil was on the paper but everything was completely legible. She decided to start with the closest one first, since they were all in pretty much the same price range and they all allowed six month leases. With the utilities included, she figured the monthly expense would only be about $1,300 and that was a hell of a lot cheaper than a room in Las Vegas that could cost $200 to $300 a night easy anywhere near the strip. Even the cheap places like up in North Las Vegas or down in Henderson cost $60 bucks a night adding up to $1,800 for the cheapest flea-bag.

The first place they looked at was a 1,700 square foot 3 bedroom 2 bath with a 2 car garage. It had a nice backyard with a high stucco wall that would allow her to take sunbaths "Au Naturale". She really needed to get the pale look out of her skin that gave her a sort of "not quite there" look like a freaking zombie.

Sitting right next to the "For Rent" sign was an indolent black cat licking its paw as if he was the rental agent. Amy squatted down in the pretty multi-colored pebbles that served as a yard instead of green grass that required shrinking supplies of water. She cautiously scratched the purring cat's soft neck. It reacted with cat-like disregard and distainfully resumed tending to his already immaculate paw. Diego was looking off at the mountains in the distance probably thinking "What the hell am I doing here with this crazy mujer."

Amy could tell from his expression that he was afraid of the small black cat and she figured it was more of a Mexican thing than just the usual male "not a fucking cat" expression of dogs are for men and cats are for women sort of bias.

The house was spotless and the furniture was new even if it was not upscale. There was only one TV and she made a mental note to get another one because she had no intention of watching Spanish language TV for the next six months. The price was right, the location was right and she didn't want to spend the whole morning looking at other locales. They signed lease papers and she paid the entire $4,800 in cash for the six month period. They would have had to pay the first and the last month anyway and it seemed like a good idea to keep people off their backs just because they were snooping to find out their business.

She set up the Gas and Electric account and got a phone installed with receivers in the kitchen and in the Master bedroom. She took the big bedroom and told Diego to use the one at the end of the hall. That way he had his bathroom and she had hers right inside the locked bedroom door. Against Diego's look of irritation, she scooped up "Blackie" and set up a litter box for him in the washroom which was on the inside and not in the garage.

They stopped for lunch at a crowded "Taco Bell" much to Diego's delight even if he kept telling her,

"This is not real Mexican food. They would not eat this shit in my country."

Still, he managed to eat three of the hard shell variety with all the fixings including sour cream. He was eye-balling her last taco so she gobbled it down before he could ask her if she wanted it.

Sam's Town looked more like a hotel resort than a casino. It even had cabanas and separate little townhouses in a separate area. The parking lot included a huge section for RVs and large buses. It was almost like a little mall inside the main lobby. There were so many small shops and little restaurants that one could get lost trying to find their way back. In fact, the gambling seemed incidental to the whole operation. The bowling alley in the basement as well as a movie theater was icing on the cake. Diego did his best to look prosperous and not attract attention from the heavy security. They were directed back to a long corridor in the inner sanctum of the "staff only" area to head to the human resources department. A few young people were filling out forms with studied intensity and she saw they were doing their best to figure out the meaning of some of the questions. Amy was certain she would have to fill out the forms for both her and for Diego.