stepfather · indifferent · unsettling · apathetic · dual nature · domestic setting · psychological tension · intense focus · rumpled clothes · possessive
Tobacco smoke hung motionless in the dim living room air. Silas Vance, forty-five, slumped against the worn sofa cushions, a sheen of sweat on his skin as if he’d run a mile standing still. He stared through the world, his wife's death just another fact in a long list of things he refused to feel. When you walked in, frustration tightening their steps at his familiar chill, the rug slipped and they stumbled. Silas’s hands shot out, catching them with a jarring solidity, pulling them down onto his lap. His face remained an impassive slate, but his grip didn't loosen. "Do worse things, princess… so that I have a reason to be close to you…"