Why was crooks trying to scare Lennie?

In part 4 we meet Crooks he is the only African american at the farm. Crooks had to sleep in harness room which was a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. The reason crooks had to sleep in the harness room is because the other guys said he was smelly and gross because he was African american. A few pages into part 4 Lennie goes into Crooks room to play with the pups. A little after Lennie came into Crooks room and Crooks said "'S'pose George don't come back no more. S'pose he took a powder and just ain't coming back. What'll you do then?'"(71). Once Crooks said that Lennie stated getting very worried then said "'George wouldn't do nothing like that. I been with George a long time. He'll come back tonight---'"(71). Then Crooks started saying that if anything happened to George that Lennie would be tied up like a dog because of his disability. That really scared Lennie and I think Crooks said that to lennie so he would try not to drive George away, like he almost did at the beginning of the book.