How should I deal with my Dad?

There are no words to describe my father completely. He's a very cold man, serious, defensive and above all secretive. If you try to pressure anything out of him he'll become angry and turn the tables, making it into one of those white angered arguments where no one yells but he is all too willing to throw insults and hurtful comments your way. My parents were divorced when I was 9 and I didn't see much of him for 2 years, to say our relationship is strained would be an understatement. The man is indifferent, hateful, and truly doesn't seem to want to be around me. Every time we're in the room there is an awkward silence and he'll constantly check his watch as if wondering when he can escape. I'm old enough now to have an adult conversation with him but he just merely doesn't want to. I feel deeply unloved by him and am unsure as to whether to give up and move on or keep trying to get him to like me. Any advice would be good, please. :) I don't really have anyone else to talk with this about, my elder brother is his biggest fan and the two have their own relationship far away from my eyes, which seems unfair considering my older brother was the child who caused all the trouble. (Drugs, alcohol...law problems..you name it he did it and yet my Dad never responded badly to him) And my mother is..difficult, I can't talk to her, she loathes my father so would not provide a rational solution.